The Fine Points 






tion Brid 



Revised Edition 




■ 




By Florence Irwin 



The Fine Points of Auction Bridge 

The Development of Auction Bridge under 
the New Count 



The Fine Points 

of 

Auction Bridge 



By 

Florence Irwin 



Revised Edition 



G. P. Putnam's Sons 

New York and London 
Gbe fmfcfcetbocfter ©cess 

1913 



gC 






Copyright, 19 12 

BY 

FLORENCE IRWIN 



Copyright, 19 13 

BY 

FLORENCE IRWIN 
(For Revised Edition) 



Published, May, 19 12 

Reprinted, May, 19 12 ; July, 19 12 

August, 19 12 ; September, 19 12 

November, 1912 ; January, 1913; February, 1913 



- 1 



TTbe fmfcfeerbocfeer press, flew HJorfe 



CI.A332839 

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PREFACE TO REVISED EDITION 

What was once the " New Count " in Auction, 
is now the only count. The advantages of the 
present scoring-system are too numerous and 
too apparent to admit of any possible return to 
the old suit- values. 

This being the case, it has seemed proper to 
issue a revised edition of The Fine Points of 
Auction Bridge. On its first appearance it dis- 
cussed both the old count and the new; in its 
new form it deals with the latter only. 

Even so, it does not cover the same ground 
as does my second book, The Development of 
Auction Bridge under the New Count. Each 
book is a complement of the other; the second 
would not make sense unless you knew all that 
the first tells you; on the other hand, it carries 
you much farther along the road on which you 
have already started, — the Road to Perfection. 

I think I might liken The Fine Points of 
Auction Bridge to the sign-post that points you 
to some museum and the ticket that admits 

iii 



iv Preface 

you within its door; while The Development of 
Auction Bridge is like the catalogue that de- 
scribes in detail all the treasures that lie spread 
before your eyes. 



P.I 



Hastings-on-Hudson, 
February, 1913. 



PREFACE 

Although it may seem, to the casual reader, 
that there are already enough Bridge books and 
Auction books on the market, the real Auction 
devotee knows that no two books are ever alike, 
and that the last word on the subject is never 
said. 

Moreover, the game has undergone such won- 
derful developments in the past year that it 
was necessary that some record of them should 
be made. 

After the publication of certain portions of 
this little volume in serial form, the demand for 
them in book form was so great that I feel 
justified in adding one more to the list of Auction 
books, without further apology. 

I have made it my chief aim to put before my 
readers all the various schools of bid and play, 
with their strong points and their flaws. It is 
not enough to know only one point of view — ■ 
even though you may consider it the best. 
Any book will tell you what the author himself 
thinks on the subject. I have tried to present 



vi Preface 

the opinions and theories of the various con- 
tending authorities. 

And, last but not least, I have the good for- 
tune to be just in time to explain the New Count. 
This latest development of the game has sprung 
into immediate and universal popularity, and 
is sweeping the country like wildfire. It has 
given to Auction its one lacking touch — a perfect 
balance between red suits and black, — and has 
made it as nearly perfect a bidding-game as it 
is possible to conceive. 



F. L 



Hastings-on-Hudsan, 
March, 1912. 



CONTENTS 






PAGE 


The Fine Points of Auction Bridge . 


I 


The Deal 


3 


The Score 


4 


Encouragement and Discouragement 


10 


The Book 


12 


The Phraseology . 


. 13 


The Opening Bid 


15 


Subsequent Bids 


27 


The Double 


. 53 


Keeping the Flag Flying^ . 


. 67 


The Play 


. 69 


Hints 


■ 77 


A Warning against Overbidding 


. 82 


Raising Your Partner's Bid . 


. 85 


Losing Rubbers ...... 


. 89 


A| 




Brilliancy versus Solidity . 


92 


• • 

vu 





Vlll 



Contents 



PAGE 

A Condensed List of Bridge Leads ... 94 

In Any Declared Trump .... 94 

In No-Trump 96 

The Advantages of the New Suit- Values . . 98 

Test Hands 109 

Test Hand No. 1 in 

Test Hand No. 2 115 

Test Hand No. 3 116 

Test Hand No. 4 118 

Test Hand No. 5 120 

Test Hand No. 6 . . . . ~. . 124 

Test Hand No. 7 127 

Test Hand No. 8 128 

Test Hand No. 9 130 

Test Hand No. 10 133 

Test Hand No. ii 134 

Test Hand No. 12 . . . . . . 136 

Test Hand No. 13 137 

Test Hand No. 14 139 

Test Hand No. 15 141 

Test Hand No. 16 144 



Contents ix 

PAGE 

Compass Auction, Team Auction, and Tour- 
nament Auction 148 

The Laws of Auction Bridge . . . .160 

The Revoke 165 

Other Penalties 167 



The Fine Points of 
Auction Bridge 



There are many persons who have some 
knowledge of Auction Bridge, but who are 
perfectly conscious that their game needs im- 
proving. It is for their use that this book is 
intended. Its object is to show the practical 
workings of the game; to give a few terse rules 
to cover the situations that are constantly 
arising; to answer the questions that seem still 
to be asked, after the reading of other books on 
the same subject; to describe the various 
11 schools' ' of play adopted by contending au- 
thorities (thus making it necessary to read one 
book only, instead of six or eight) ; and, in short, 
to bridge the chasm that yawns between fair 
Auction and excellent Auction. 

In the first place, let no one frighten you into 
believing that Auction is a very difficult game. 
It is not. To the Bridge player of average skill 



2 Fine Points of Auction 

and intelligence, it should present no great 
obstacles. But it is subtle to the last degree; 
subtle to a point that the ordinary player does 
not suspect. 

Take, for instance, a situation that often 
arises : your side and the other side have one game 
each on the rubber, but they are far ahead of you 
in penalties. You open your hand and find 
a perfectly good no-trumper, and you get the 
bid at " two no-trumps, " realizing that you can 
easily make three tricks and go game and rubber. 

But the adversaries are so far ahead (in 
penalties) that you do not dare to take rubber 
unless you can do it on a grand slam, which 
would put your total a little ahead of theirs. 
In other words, you may take eight tricks or 
you may take thirteen, but nothing in between 
— not nine, nor ten, nor eleven, nor twelve. 

It becomes necessary to do all your finessing 
in the very beginning, to locate the high cards 
which you fail to hold, and to decide definitely 
which you will take, your eight tricks or your 
thirteen. 

Could any situation be more delicate or call 
for more dexterous handling? Plain Bridge 
could offer nothing to match it. 

In the second place, never forget that Auction 
is an 0/fensive, not a defensive game. By this 



The Deal 3 

I do not mean that you should always try to 
capture the bid and play the hand. That is the 
most rudimentary of errors, and players of that 
description resemble nothing so much as a 
quartette of silly children quarrelling for the 
possession of a ball. But I do mean that the 
timid and hesitating player, the one who is 
afraid to take long chances at a critical moment, 
is the one who is left far behind the procession. 
It is necessary to fight every minute of the time. 

The Deal 

The deal in Auction goes around the table 
regularly, just as in plain Bridge, but the play 
of the hand may be anywhere, i. e., the hand may 
be played by the dealer, his partner, or either 
of his adversaries; whoever makes the final bid 
plays the hand. This sometimes makes con- 
fusion in the next deal ; every one can remember 
who played the last hand, but not who dealt it. 

This trouble should be obviated by the 
position of the "still" pack (the pack of cards 
not in use). 

When the dealer is dealing, his partner should 
"make" the still pack and put it down at his 
own right hand. It would be bad form to reach 
across the adversary who is to deal next and 



4 Fine Points of Auction 

place it at his right hand. So it is placed on the 
right hand of the maker, and when it becomes 
time for a new deal, the player who finds the 
still pack at his left hand is the new dealer* 
He should pick up the pack, pass it to the pre- 
vious dealer — i. e. the player on his right — to 
cut, and should then proceed to deal, while his 
partner " makes' ' the other pack and lays it at 
his own right hand. 

The still pack should never be trifled with, 
never touched except for the business of the 
game. Strict attention to this detail will 
obviate all trouble as to the deal, and will do 
away with stupid questions, such as, " Whose 
deal is it?" "You dealt last, didn't you?" 
and so forth. The game will progress smoothly, 
and one of the marks which distinguish good 
Auction from "ragged" Auction will be ob- 
literated. 

The Score 

No one can score below the line except the 
side that plays the hand. The opposition can 
score above the line only, in penalties and 
honors. 

There is no score below the line unless the 
player who gets the bid makes all that he bid, 



TTHe Score 5 

or more. If he fails to do this, the adversaries 
score above the line, fifty for every trick which 
the player bid but failed to make. If there has 
been doubling, this fifty is raised to a hundred; 
if redoubling, to two hundred. 

If you underbid your hand, you can score all 
that you make over your bid; if you overbid it, 
you can score nothing, not even what you take. 

The adversaries take fifty above the line for 
every trick that you bid and fail to take. For 
instance, if you get the bid at " three hearts," 
it means that you have contracted to take the 
book and three odd in hearts — nine tricks in 
all. If you take four odd, or five, or a grand 
slam, you can count them all, at their ordinary 
value of eight a trick. But there is no " bonus, " 
no reward of any kind for keeping your contract, 
or for exceeding it (except the value of the 
extra tricks themselves), unless the bid has been 
doubled. 

If you announce your ability to take " three 
hearts," and every one thinks you probably 
can, there is no credit to you in taking them and 
taking more. But if the adversary thinks you 
cannot, and announces this by doubling, and 
if, on top of this, you prove that you can, then 
you get your tricks at a doubled value (sixteen 
apiece), and you also get a " bonus" of fifty 



6 Fine Points of Auction 

above the line as a reward for keeping your 
contract in spite of his double. And if you make 
any tricks over your contract, each one is worth 
its doubled value below the line, and an extra 
fifty above. 

For instance, you bid " three hearts"; you 
are doubled and yet succeed in taking five hearts 
(i. e. y eleven tricks in all). They are worth 16 
apiece below the line (80), you get a bonus of 
50 above the line for the mere keeping of your 
contract in spite of a double, and you also get 
50 above the line for each of the two tricks you 
took in excess of your contract, — making a total 
of 80 points below the line and 150 above, plus 
your honors. If you redouble, your tricks are 
raised to 32 apiece, your bonus to 100, and the 
value of each extra trick to 100. 

Doubling stops at redoubling — that is, each 
side is allowed one double and no more. And 
there can be no bonus when there has been no 
doubling. 

If, on the other hand, you overbid your hand, 
you can score nothing, — not even the tricks that 
you take. If you bid " three hearts' ' and take 
two hearts {i.e., eight tricks), you have failed 
in your contract and can score nothing; and the 
opposition scores 50 for the trick that you bid 
and failed to take. If they have doubled you, 



THe Score 7 

they get ioo; if you have redoubled, they get 
200. Fifty, or ioo, or 200, for each trick for 
which you contracted and failed to take, but 
all above the line. And you can score nothing 
except for any honors you may chance to hold. 

Bear in mind the fact that, while there is 
"rank" below the line, there is none above. 
By "rank" I mean that the suits differ in value, 
— hearts are worth 8, no-trump 10, diamonds 7, 
and so forth. But every trick that you lose gives 
your adversary 50, regardless of suit. He gets 
just as much if you lose a spade as if you lose a 
no-trump. That is why "a spade" is the most 
expensive declaration there is. You make so 
little if you win, and lose just as much if you lose. 

Play for the Grand Total — i. e., the sum of 
the points above and below the line. 

When Auction first appeared, every one's 
advice was to play conservatively for the game 
below the line, just as we had always done in 
Bridge. Now we have changed all that, for play- 
ers have come to realize that it is the penalties 
that count, the penalties (doubled or undoubled) 
that distinguish the score from that of ordinary 
Bridge, and that bring home the winnings. 

I do not mean to belittle the rubber ; but the 
fact remains that its value of 250 is but two and 
a half times the value of the Bridge rubber, while 



8 Fine Points of Auction 

there is no estimating what one may win, at 
Auction, in penalties above the line. 

If I could impress permanently on my readers 
the value of these points above the line, I should 
be well on my way towards grounding them in 
one of the first essentials of good Auction. If you 
"set" the adversary for one trick (undoubled), 
it seems very slight to you for "it is only fifty 
above the line!" 

Only Fifty! Do you realize that fifty is as 
much as five no-trump tricks are worth? And 
who is there who does not feel some slight 
elation in bringing home five tricks in no-trump ? 
And, if the trick you steal from the adversary 
has been doubled, your winnings of ioo points 
are as great as the value of ten tricks in no- 
trump, — greater than the trick and honor values 
of a no-trump small slam (unless you hold more 
than half of the aces) ! 

I beg you to digest this point and never to 
fail to appreciate your fifty, or your hundred, 
simply because it is above the line. Take all 
the penalties you can get, "set" the adversaries 
for tricks, doubled or undoubled, whenever the 
chance comes your way, and you can often 
afford to look with pitying eyes, and from the 
height of a superior score, on the winners of the 
rubbers. 



THe Score 9 

As a rule, don't be too anxious to play the 
hands in the beginning of a rubber. Of course, 
if you have a very good declaration, make it 
and play the hand — particularly if you can go 
game, or keep the adversary from going game. 
But when you are not dealer and are not forced 
to bid, use your good hands to defeat the make, 
in the beginning of a rubber. If you can pile 
up 300 or 400 in penalties, the ultimate result 
of the rubber need have no terrors for you; if 
you win it, well and good, for it will be a big 
one; if you lose it, your points above the line 
will offset the 250 and leave you even with the 
game. To sum up, then, generally try to "set" 
the adversary in the beginning of a rubber, and to 
play the hands toward the end of it. 



Encouragement and Discouragement 

Encouragement and discouragement signals 
are exactly the same in Auction as in plain 
Bridge; but, unfortunately, they are far too 
little understood and practised. Every seven, or 
card higher than seven, should mean encourage- 
ment on the first round of a suit; every card under 
seven should mean discouragement. In a trump 
make, if your partner leads an ace and you hold 
the king of that suit, you should play a seven or 
higher on his ace; that will say to hirn: " I have 
the king; come on!" To play under seven, 
signifies that you do not hold the king. In 
no-trump, if your partner should lead a king, 
it would mean that he held a seven-card suit 
or a three-honor suit; now if you should hold 
the queen of that suit and two or three small, 
your duty would be to throw your queen on to 
his king, in order to unblock. But if you hold 
five or more cards headed by the queen, your 
suit may be longer than his and you may want 
your queen for re-entry; then you must give 
him an "encouragement-card" (seven or higher) 

10 



En- and Dis-couragement n 

on his king, to show that the queen is in your hand. 

This division of the cards, from seven up and 
down, makes also the most faultless discard. 
Whether you discard from weakness or from 
strength, there are times when it is awkward; 
the weak discard is often too vague ; the strength 
discard will occasionally lose you a trick. But 
if you adopt a system by which seven or higher 
means strength in that suit, and anything under 
seven means weakness, your troubles will be at 
an end. For if the strong discard will cripple 
your suit, you can throw a low card from a 
weak suit; if it should be necessary to show 
strength with one discard, a seven or higher 
will do it. This may seem a little complicated 
at first, but a few trials will accustom you to 
it and convince you of its excellence. 

Another signal that is too little understood 
is the one-card echo at no-trump. If the make 
be no-trump and your partner leads a small 
card, and if Dummy plays a card that you can- 
not cover, you should play your next-to-highest 
card, so that your partner may read his suit. 
For instance, your partner leads a six of hearts 
from a combination headed by the ace, the 
king, or both; Dummy plays the queen and you 
hold jack-ten and two small. You must play 
your ten , not one of your small cards. Then 



12 Fine Points of Auction 

your partner will know that you have one card 
higher than the ten ; he will see the queen on the 
board, and the ace-king in his own hand, and he 
will immediately credit you with the jack and 
be able to place all the high cards in his suit. 
This one-card echo in no-trump is invaluable; 
but it is so rarely found, even among good players, 
that when you come across a partner who uses 
it, you feel you have struck a veritable gold-mine. 

The Book 

The book is always six tricks for the player y and 
he must take as many over it as his bid calls for 
— one, two, three, or whatever he may have bid. 
The book for the opposition (the adversaries) is 
always the difference between the bid and seven. 
If the player bids "three hearts/ ' the adver- 
saries' book closes at four tricks (three from seven 
leaves four), and every trick that they may take 
over that counts them fifty undoubled or a 
hundred doubled — above the line, of course. 
If the bid is five, the adversaries' book is two; 
if the bid is one, the adversaries' book is six, 
the same as the player's. In other words, the 
adversaries' book is all that the player dares 
let them take. If he bids two on anything, he 
contracts for eight tricks — the book (6), and 
two more. Eight from thirteen leaves five, so 
five is all that he dares let the adversary take; 



The Phraseology 13 

it is therefore their book, and anything over 
five will count fifty for them and keep the player 
from scoring at all. If the player bids one, the 
adversaries' book is six; if two, their book is 
five; if three, their book is four, and so on. The 
adversaries should always close their book when it 
is complete (whether it be two, three, four, or 
five tricks) and keep the counting tricks outside it. 

The Phraseology 

To take tricks that the player has bid is to 
"set" him. You "set" him for two, three, or 
four tricks, as the case may be. 

To change your partner's bid to a bid in 
another suit (when the intervening adversary 
has not bid) is to "overcall." 

A "backward" bid or a "warning" bid is to 
overcall your adversary in a lower suit, with no 
bid from the intervening adversary. 

In making a bid, never use an unnecessary 
word. Clip your bid of all excrescences till 
it stands as light and as clean as a race-horse. 
The one drawback to Auction is that it is neces- 
sarily some little time before the bidding is over 
and you settle down to the business of the play. 
Make that time as short as possible by the 
promptness and the brevity of your bid. Say 
"a spade" or "one spade," "two clubs," "a 



14 Fine Points of .Auction 

no-trump, " "two diamonds, " — but never, 
"Well, I think I will try a diamond. " And 
never, "one in diamonds/ or "one on dia- 
monds"; never use a preposition at all, simply 
name the number of tricks in your bid and the 
suit in which you bid them. Make your bid 
clearly and distinctly. Any one who fails to un- 
derstand the bid may ask to have it repeated at 
the time, hut never after it is once covered. And 
when the final bid is allowed to stand, and three 
players have passed in succession, no one may ask 
information as to any previous bid. The final bid, 
however, may be asked at any stage of the game. 
As the bid goes round, each player follows this 
rule of bidding in as few words as possible, unless 
he does not wish to bid, in which case he says 
"No," "By," or — if he wishes to use the term 
"pass" — he repeats the previous bid, as: 
"Pass two diamonds.' The word "pass' is 
often mistaken for "hearts" and should there- 
fore never be used alone; if the bid preceding 
yours is "a diamond," and you do not wish to 
bid, you say "By, " "No, " or "Pass a diamond. " 
And remember that every bid must be made 
audibly. Some players have a habit of striking 
the table with their fingers to show that they 
pass. This is contrary to rule, and gives too 
much chance for a system of rap-signalling. 



The Opening Bid 



The dealer is forced to open the bidding. 
Any one else may pass, but he may not. His 
is the " forced bid, " all others are the "free 
bids." Remember that the bidding on the 
first round is rarely final. It is merely a " show- 
up' of high cards. Get away from the old 
Bridge idea that your first chance is your last. 
You may come to change your bid entirely, on 
later rounds; it frequently happens that you 
do. But to bid on a suit on the first round should 
show that you hold the ace, the king, or possibly 
the queen of that suit, — never that your suit is 
headed by anything lower than a queen. Sub- 
sequent rounds may bring different bids, but to 
make a suit bid on the first round should mean 
that, and that alone. To open the bidding with 
"a diamond" does not necessarily mean that 
you are determined to play the hand at diamonds ; 
but it does mean that you positively hold the 
ace, the king, or the queen of diamonds and can 
command the suit either immediately or after 

15 



16 Fine Points of -Auction 

the first or second round. You may have a per- 
fectly wonderful diamond make; if you have, it 
will come out in the later bidding. But your 
opening bid does not necessarily mean that; it 
is not the make, but the bid for the make — the 
"show-up," — and it tells your partner that 
you have a playable suit headed by one of 
the three high cards and can stop it at no- 
trump. 

Never bid on a jack-suit or a ten-suit on the 
first round. It is too misleading to your partner. 
While six or seven hearts headed by the jack 
or ten was a perfectly good heart make in plain 
Bridge, it is not a good heart bid in Auction. 
Grasp at once the difference between the bid 
and the make. Even in Auction it will some- 
times happen that you will make hearts on seven 
to the jack, but it will always be on a later 
round and in the light of information received 
on the first round of bids. Also, it will not 
mislead your partner on a later round, as it 
certainly would on the opening one. You have 
a better club bid holding the ace and five little 
spots, than you have holding ten clubs with the 
jack at their head, and lacking the ace, king, 
and queen. Remember that Auction is a game 
of high cards, — a game of strength rather than 
length. 



THe Opening Bid 17 

If you, being dealer, pick up your cards and 
find you have a no-trump hand, my advice to 
you is to bid u a no-trump/' Of course, there 
are many excellent players who bid "a spade' ' 
on every no-trump hand, and of them I shall 
speak later. Of course, too, they have excellent 
arguments in favor of their system, all of which 
it will be my business to explain to you and to 
refute with arguments which I consider still 
better. For, of course, (in the third place), 
it is the business of every Auction player to 
master all the various systems and to under- 
stand them when he sees them in his adver- 
saries, even though they are diametrically op- 
posed to the one that he chooses to play. The 
best Auction player is the one who best understands 
the various schools of bidding, but sticks to his 
own for play. There are those who insist that 
you must vary the meaning of your bid, in 
order to mystify the adversary. What about 
your partner? Are you to leave him floundering ? 
And that is what will happen unless you are 
permitted to establish a system of kicks under 
the table. For if you attempt to bewilder the 
adversary by any set system of bids, he will 
understand it as well as your partner; and if 
you attempt it by sudden wild flights into the 
unexpected, your partner will be as much at 



18 Fine Points of Auction 

sea as he. While nothing is worse than a 
" wooden' ' player, with a stiff set of rules that 
can never be broken, 2" still hold that it is far 
more necessary to give information to your partner 
than to withhold it from the adversary. 

You, then, being dealer, look first for no- 
trump when you pick up your hand. There 
are many reasons for the opening no-trump 
declaration: in the first place, no-trump is the 
only suit in which it is possible to go game with 
only three-odd tricks. Then, there will often 
be, on the same deal, two hands either of which 
could bid "one no-trump," but neither of which 
could bid "two no-trump." If you get it first, 
it stands to reason that the other man cant. 
Again, a declaration of "one no-trump" will 
force your adversary to a two-bid, and will 
sometimes prevent his naming his suit to his 
partner. This will shut out information between 
your adversaries and will often hamper them 
seriously. 

A no-trump may be bid on a much lighter 
hand in Auction than in Bridge. You frequent- 
ly bid it without an ace, because a hundred 
aces held against you are not the terrifying 
possibility in Auction that they were in Bridge; 
there are so many ways in Auction to get a 
hundred points. But to bid no-trump without 



THe Opening Bid 19 

an ace, you should hold considerable general 
strength, for this reason: whatever you lead, 
the adversary can stop your progress with the 
ace and begin on his own suit. Bid no-trump if 
you have it; but, I beg of you, dont bid it if you 
have n't, unless to save a critical situation. 

I have seen dealers pick up a hand and, find- 
ing a combination similar to this, 

9 K Q8 
4k AKQ95 

Oaq 

4kKQ9 

insist on bidding "a club" (instead of a no- 
trump), saying they will bid the no-trump 
"when it comes round again." And it never 
comes round! For, while it is true that you 
generally have more than one chance to bid, it 
sometimes happens that you have not. With 
so many good cards in the dealer's hand, his 
partner might have a Yarborough, and the 
adversaries (holding the remaining high cards 
between them) might refuse to take the dealer 
out of a club bid which would give him so little 
even if he made it. So he is forced to play the 
hand as clubs, when he wanted no-trump, and 
to take 6 a trick, instead of 10. 

Failing to find no-trump, search your hand 



20 Fine Points of -/Yuction 

for a suit declaration, — one that holds the ace, 
king, or queen. Holding two suits of equal 
strength, bid the higher one. In the infancy of 
Auction, players used to bid their lower suit 
first, so that, if they were raised or doubled, they 
could go to the higher one without increase of 
contract. But this was found to be a poor 
system; it would often happen that no one 
would bid against the original declaration, and 
the Declarant was left to play a low suit when 
he was perfectly able to play a high one. Al- 
ways bid on the highest suit that your hand 
permits. 

I differ utterly with the authorities who advise 
you never to bid, "a diamond'' unless you can 
go game on it. The mere fact of knowing that 
you protect diamonds will often enable your 
partner to bid no-trump, and take game, when 
he would have been totally unable to bid it 
without your diamond information. Suppose 
he holds a hand like this : 

9AKQ 
£ J 10 5 
<0 865 
▲ AK86 

He certainly could not bid no-trump alone, 



XKe Opening Did 21 

with two unprotected suits. But with the 
comforting assurance that you command dia- 
monds, or will command them after the first 
round or two, his no-trump declaration is a 
perfectly possible thing. And it takes two tricks 
less to go game in no-trump than in diamonds. 
Why throw away such an opportunity for 
concerted action? 

I am often asked whether it is better to bid 
the total value of your hand, or simply one 
trick in its good suit. As a rule, one trick. 
There are occasions when you wish to make a 
" shut-out' ' bid, and keep the adversary from 
bidding at all, and then you will make a higher 
bid* For instance, if you have been fighting 
hard for the rubber and lack but 6 or 8 points 
of it, and if you open your hand and find won- 
derful clubs, a side ace, and a suit either lack- 
ing or short, I should bid two, or even three, 
clubs! The short suit would make no-trump 
risky, the clubs are all that you need to go 
rubber, and your bid will force the adversaries 
to keep silent, or to bid more than one, thus 
giving them a harder contract. But, generally, 
content yourself with a bid of one trick, to open. 
You may need information from partner or 
adversary, and if you bid too high you won't 
get it. 



22 



Fine Points of Auction 



The following situation arose in actual play; 
and, in passing, let me say that all the hands 
here quoted were actual hands. It is as easy 
to arrange a " trick' ' hand to prove a certain 
point, as it is to quote Scripture to any end 
whatever. But to take hands as they run, and 
dissect them, is to get at the practical workings 
of the game. The score on the game in question 
was love-all on the rubber-game, and the cards 
lay as follows : 

£? 10 3 2 

£ A K Q 10 8 

<>953 

4> j io 



<?56 

£ J75 
84 
4*986542 


A 


Y 

Z 


B 


^AKQ J9874 
£4 3 

£K3 




CO 









£962 

OAKQ10 762 
£ AQ7 

Z (the dealer) bids "one diamond" only, 
because, with a higher suit (hearts) against 
him, it is essential for him to know the position 
of the clubs; lacking this knowledge, it is im- 



THe Opening Bid 23 

possible for him to judge how high he dares bid 
his diamonds against the hearts — should they 
be bid. Y gives the desired club information 
by bidding "two clubs," which he could not 
have done if Z had opened with a higher bid c 
And, assured of the position of the high clubs, 
Z can afford to bid his hand up to "six dia- 
monds" (a small slam), if necessary. For he 
will not lose a single trump round; he will ruff 
hearts from the beginning; he will not lose a 
club round (judging from his partner's bid) ; 
and, with the king of spades in either Y's hand 
or B's he will make both his ace and his queen 
of spades. I will repeat this hand later and 
give the subsequent bidding and the play. At 
present, our business is with the opening bid 
only. 

The best general rule for the opening bid is to 
use the process of elimination. Look first for 
the highest suit (no-trump), and bid it if you 
have it. Failing no-trump, look for the next 
best bid (royals) ; and failing that, keep on down 
the line in regular order, making the very best 
bid that your hand warrants, and leaving spades 
in reserve for a poor hand or a waiting hand. 

A no-trump is bid on a much lighter hand in 
Auction than it was in Bridge, for two reasons: 
First, you no longer dread your adversary 



24 Fine Points of Auction 

holding one hundred aces against you; those 
hundred aces used to be as great as the rubber- 
value, while now, the rubber has greatly in- 
creased in value, and there are many ways of 
gleaning a hundred points at a blow. And the 
second reason is that nine times out of ten, some 
one bids against your no-trump and you don't 
have to play it. In Bridge, to say no-trump 
was to play no-trump. 

A suit-bid, on the contrary, should be a safe 
make, for the reason that your partner is apt 
to raise it. This is especially true of the too 
high suits (royals and hearts) ; this will be 
made clear to you, later, when I explain why 
your partner will never change your royal-bid, 
or heart-bid, to a no-trump, — when there has 
been no bid from the intervening adversary. 
A diamond-bid, or a club, he may be only too 
glad to change to a no-trump, secure in the 
knowledge that you hold the ace or king of that 
suit. But a heart-bid, or a royal-bid, he will 
let stand; so you must be able to play it when 
you make it. 

There is a very important protective law (Law 
48) that provides that "the loss at a one-spade 
make is limited to one hundred/ That means 
that if you bid " one spade " and every one else 
passes, the adversaries cannot score more than 



THe Opening Bid 25 

one hundred against you (and that above the 
line), even if they make a grand slam. This 
law was formed with the idea of tempering the 
wind to the shorn lamb, and is so important 
that it caused the great English authority, 
Dalton, to rewrite his previous book. It is an 
extremely fair thing that the penalty should not 
be too heavy when all the poor cards lie on the 
side that is forced to bid; and if the dealer and 
his partner both hold weak hands, they will 
be wise to take refuge under this law and leave 
the bid at "one spade' ' rather than risk disaster 
by a weak bid in another suit where they can 
lose fifty (or a hundred) for every trick that goes 
against them. It also does away with the 
necessity for taking your partner out of a one- 
spade bid, by bidding something — whether you 
have it or not. If he is weak, and you are 
weak, be very glad to let his "one spade' ' 
stand, and to limit your loss to one hundred. 

Remember, though, that this shelter is pro- 
vided for you in a bid of il one spade 1 ' only. 
If you have bid "two spades," or "three spades," 
you can lose as much at them as in any other 
suit. 

To sum up, then, for the original bid: 
Look first for no-trump and if you have it 
bid it. 



26 Fine Points of Auction 

Failing to find no-trumps, look for royals, and 
remember that a suit-bid should be a make. 

Follow this process with hearts, diamonds, and 
clubs, in proper order. 

And: 

Failing to find any of these, bid "one spade, " 
to show a poor hand or a waiting hand. 



Subsequent Bids 

Every player, after the dealer, may pass, 
raise the bid, or double; the bid continues to go 
round until three successive players have passed. 
Raising the bid is either bringing it to a higher 
numerical value than the previous bid, or bring- 
ing it to the same numerical value with more 
tricks in it. For instance, "four clubs" would 
be a higher bid than " three hearts' ' and would 
outrank the latter although they are both worth 
24. But it is harder to take four tricks than 
three. 

When you double, you undertake to keep the 
player from taking as many tricks as he has bid ; 
not to take that many yourself. Thus, if a 
player bids " three diamonds' ' (9 tricks), and 
you think you can hold him down to 8, or to 
anything under 9, you double him. If he wins 
his 9 tricks, he gets them at a doubled value and 
gets, besides, a bonus of 50 points above the line 
for keeping his contract in spite of a double. 
If you succeed in defeating him, you take 100 

27 



28 Fine Points of Auction 

above the line for every trick that you steal 
from his contract. 

Doubling is not bidding, but it keeps the 
bidding open. If Z bids, A doubles, and the 
two other players pass, Z still plays the hand, 
and A simply tries to take enough tricks to 
defeat the contract. If, on the other hand, Z 
bids and A " raises the bid' ' (i. e. y makes a higher 
bid in the same, or any other suit), and the two 
other players pass, then A plays the hand, 
having succeeded in taking the bid away from Z. 
There is sometimes confusion between the terms 
"raising the bid, " and "doubling the bid." 
"Raising" is making a new bid that outranks 
the last, and taking the play for yourself; but 
it leaves the trick- values normal. "Doubling" 
is leaving the last player to play his own bid, 
but undertaking to defeat him in so doing; and 
it doubles the trick- values. Doubling can take 
place between adversaries only. No one can 
double his partner. 

Z having opened the bidding, it passes to the 
second player, A. Let A remember that "the 
cleverest thing you can do is to say nothing 
when you have nothing to say." In other 
words, let him pass unless he has a real reason 
for bidding. It is too common an error to feel 
that one must always bid, and I have been simply 



Subsequent Bids 29 

astounded to see the hands on which some players 
feel that they "must give information. " The 
only thing that saves such a player from reaping 
the fruits of his poor judgment is that the others 
at the table may be equally foolish ; but put two 
such players against two real Auction players 
and see how sorry will be their plight! Z's bid 
is "forced," — he must bid; A's bid is "free, " — 
for Heaven's sake let him enjoy the privilege 
of that freedom. At no Auction would you bid 
on a thing unless you wanted it and had the where- 
withal to pay for it! And I can assert most 
positively that the longer you play, and the 
nearer your game approaches perfection, the 
less you will bid. Then Auction becomes a real 
game instead of a silly squabble. And you will 
come to dread the deal for yourself or your 
partner (when you are forced to make a decla- 
ration), and to welcome those between times of 
freedom when you can employ your discretion 
whether to use a good hand for bidding, or for 
defeating the bid; and when a poor one need no 
longer be a terror to you. 

But, to return to A's bid: 

If A holds a poor hand he should pass. 

If he holds a no-trumper and Z has bid "a 
spade," he should pass. Rarely take the adver- 
sary out of a spade bid when you hold a no- 



30 Fine Points of Auction 

trumper (unless to go game) ; he has a poor hand, 
you have a good one; use it to defeat him, and take 
fifty a trick instead of ten. If the bidding goes 
around again, you can still declare your no- 
trump. 

If A holds a suit with very high honors, he 
should declare it. Those honors may be as much, 
or more, than he could make by the spade- 
penalty. 

If Z has made a bid in a high suit, and A holds 
sufficient strength, he should outbid Z, or make 
what is known as a " forcing-bid. " A " forcing- 
bid' ' is made, not with the idea of getting the 
play, but of pushing the other side higher. 
For it is always a pity to let the other side get 
the standing bid at one odd in any high suit. 
It is so easy to make one, that they can afford 
to take all sorts of risks and finesses and probably 
go game. They should be given a harder job, 
if possible; if you can push them to two, they 
will have to buckle down to the business of 
taking those two, and will be afraid to do much 
finessing — so you may save game. Thus, if 
Z has bid "a heart," A will sometimes want to 
bid "two clubs" or "two diamonds, '' simply to 
push Z up. But A must remember that a 
"forcing-bid doesn't always force"; instead of 
going up, the other side may let him play his 



Subsequent Bids 31 

" two clubs," or " two diamonds," and may even 
double him; so that, unless he has some founda- 
tion for his bid, he will be in a sorry plight. And 
here follows one of the most important of 
Auction rules, one that I wish I could carve on 
the brain of every player: 

Never make a risky bid unless to go game or 
to save game! 

Another point for every Auction player to 
remember is this: 

Never bid no-trump unless you stop the adver- 
sary's suit! 

This is the one iron rule, the one that cannot 
be tampered with. In Bridge, you bid no- 
trump with a weak suit, because you hope your 
partner has help for you there. But when a 
suit has been declared against you, you must 
hold a stopper in it, in order to bid no-trump. 
If Z bids "a heart" and A bids "a no-trump," 
A says plainly to his partner, " I can stop hearts." 
That means, he holds the ace, the king with 
one, the queen with two, the jack with three, 
or so on. He can keep the adversary from 
galloping down the line in hearts. A's partner 
(B), secure in this knowledge, can afford to bid 
on up to two or three in no-trump, if it becomes 
necessary and he has good assistance, because 
he knows his partner will stop the hearts. Never 



32 Fine Points of Auction 

forget this rule and never, I beg of you, break it : 
Never bid no-trump unless you stop the ad- 
versary's suit. 

This is particularly binding on the first round 
of bids which is really a declaration of your cards. 
Subsequent rounds are different, but the first 
round demands a strict adherence to the rules. 
And the man who first bids no-trump, after a 
suit-bid by the adversary, declares that he 
holds a stopper in that suit. 

It sometimes happens that Z opens with "a 
no-trumps and A finds himself with a hand on 
which he also would like to bid "a no-trump. " 
Shall he pass, shall he double, or shall he bid 
"two no-trumps"? 

Rarely double a bid of one. It is too easy for 
the adversary to take one. And if you double, 
and he takes it, you make him a present of his 
trick at a doubled value and fifty more for a 
" bonus." Try to force him to "two no-trumps'' 
by making a bid of "two hearts' or "two dia- 
monds, ' ' if you have the material . If he takes the 
force and goes to "two no-trumps," then double 
him, if you like. If you are unable to make this 
suit-bid, pass, or bid "two no-trumps" (for it 
often happens that two adversaries will bid on 
the same suit). If you pass, yet defeat them, 
well and good; you get your 50 a trick. But 



Subsequent Bids 33 

if 10 will put them game, or getting the play will 
put you game, bid "two no-trumps' ' yourself. 
For there is a saying that " the play is as good as a 
trick." This means that you can usually take 
one or even two more tricks by playing the 
hand yourself and being the engineer of its fate. 
The adversary who first bid "a no-trump' ' will 
probably double you if you bid "two no-trumps." 
For he will argue that if he could take seven 
tricks in that suit he can stop your taking 
eight. But this is not always so; if you play 
the hand, he will be forced to discard on your 
good suits, thus unguarding honors and weaken- 
ing himself materially. Were I forced to make 
a general rule as to when to pass a "one no- 
trump' ' bid, and when to change it to "two 
no-trumps," I should say: 

If the value of a trick will not mean game to 
either side, and if "one no-trump" has been bid 
against you and you have no good suit-bid, gener- 
ally "pass" on a hand of general strength; but 
rarely expect to defeat a one-bid. If you hold a 
suit in which it is possible to bid "two, " bid it in 
order to "force " the no-trump. If the odd trick 
will mean rubber to the adversary, and you hold 
simply a general hand with no one suit that war- 
rants a two-bid, bid two "no-trumps," yourself. 

To sum up, then: 



34 Fine Points of Auction 

First. — Don't double any one-bids; force 
them higher, first. 

Second. — If you cannot make a forcing bid, 
pass, if the points are not vital (that is, if they 
will not make game or save game) . 

Third. — If the points are vital, and you cannot 
take the bid away by changing the suit, take it 
by bidding "two" in the same suit in which the 
adversary has bid "one." 

Rarely bid two in any suit unless you hold 
ace or king. It is too misleading to your 
partner. He has a perfect right to place you 
with the ace or the king of any suit in which 
you have bid two — and to go on bidding accord- 
ingly. This rule applies to the first round of 
bidding; on a later round you might say "tw r o 
hearts ' on six or seven to the queen or queen- 
jack (and on information received) ; but do not 
say it on the preliminary round. 

The bid comes now to the third player, Y. 
If Z and A have both bid, Y has two sources of 
information on which to base his bid or his 
silence. If Z, only, has bid and A has passed, 
Y's position is different. If Z has bid "a no- 
trump," and A has passed, Y should pass — 
no matter what help he has, for what better than 
a no-trump can he want? It would be senseless 
to say "two no-trumps, " for it would only 



Subsequent Bids 35 

increase the difficulty of Z's contract, and if 
they make two, they count them anyhow. If 
Y has wonderful hearts, or wonderful diamonds, 
he is, of course, at liberty to declare "two 
hearts," or "two diamonds" over Z's "one no- 
trump"; but let him remember how much less 
are the trick- values. If Z has bid ' ' a no-trump, ' ' 
and A has covered with "two diamonds" (or 
"two hearts"), then Y can go to "two no- 
trumps' if he stops the diamonds (or the 
hearts), but not otherwise. 

If Z has bid "a heart" or "a royal," and A 
has passed, Y should also pass, even with a no- 
trump hand. A good heart-make, or royal- 
make, is good enough for any one, and it takes only 
one more trick to go game in hearts, or royals, 
than in no-trump. If Y has a no-trump hand, 
he will give his partner that trick and more. 
But if Y has help in every other suit, and would 
be a dead weight in hearts, or royals (i. e., if he 
is chicane, or holds only a little spot), then he 
may go to no-trump as a signal to his partner 
that his hearts (or royals) are weak, but he has 
the other suits. If his partner is strong enough 
still to want to play it at hearts (or royals), 
in spite of this information, or if he has big 
honors that he wants to score, he will bid two 
in his suit, on the second round, realizing that 



36 Fine Points of Auction 

he must take care of it alone. If he does this, 
Y should never cap it with "two no-trumps ' 
unless he has a hundred aces. 

Remember, then: never change your partner's 
heart-bid, or royal-bid, to a no-trump, unless you 
you are phenomenally weak in his suit {and stop 
every other), or unless you have a hundred aces. 

If Z has bid "a heart" and A has passed, Y 
should, of course, never bid "two hearts," but 
he may bid "two diamonds" or "two clubs' 
if his hand demands it. Never overbid your 
partner in his own suit when there has been no 
intervening bid, but change the suit at will. 

Remember, though: 

To change your partner's bid to a bid in a suit 
of lower value {when there has been no intervening 
bid) should mean either that you hold excellent 
honors in that lower suit, or that you are unable to 
help your partner if the hand is played at his suit. 
Otherwise {i. e., if you have help for him, in trumps, 
ruffs, or side-suits) it would be much more sensi- 
ble to let his bid stand, and to make more on each 
trick taken. 

On the other hand, you may always be glad to 
change your partner's bid to a bid in a higher 
suit, on even a fairly good hand; except in the 
case of hearts and no-trump which I have already 
explained. If Z has bid "a club," Y may 
declare "a diamond" or "a heart" on any fair 



Subsequent Bids 37 

hand, — provided it holds the ace, king, or queen 
and is a playable suit. If Z has bid u a heart" 
and A has covered with "two diamonds," Y's 
position is changed. If he can stop diamonds 
and holds a good black suit and a fair stopper 
(not necessarily a sure one) in the other black 
suit, he can bid no-trump, for his partner can 
take care of the hearts. (This situation shows 
why Z's heart-bid must mean one of the three 
high cards.) If Y cannot bid no-trump, he 
should see if he cannot raise his partner's heart- 
bid. Many players do this on hearts alone, which 
is a sad error. Do we not all know what it is to 
be left in a hole with nothing but trumps, while 
the adversaries hold everything else ? Remember : 

Never raise your partner s suit-bid on trumps 
alone! You should have some side-suit, a short 
suit, or a ruff. 

Suppose Z has bid "a heart" on the following 
hand: 

Jp 753 
74 
♦ Q10 

and A goes to "a no-trump." In which of the 
two following hands would Z find the greater 
help? — in the first, which offers suit protection 
and a singleton ace: 



/ 



38 



Fine Points of Auction 



S?87 

£ A 

<0> KJ10 

4fc KJ65432 



9 A43 

4$» K Q J 10 9 

O AQ5 

4 A9 




9J5 

& 8642 
98632 
^ 87 



£? K Q 10 9 6 2 
ifr 753 

74 

or in this hand, which offers trump help, and 

nothing else: 

^?J87543 

4» 64 
083 
<$ 654 



£ AKQJ109 
<> KQ5 
4* AK9 




<f» 82 

AJ10962 

$ J8732 



<£ K Q 10 9 6 2 
$* 753 
72 
♦ Q10 



Subsequent Bids 39 

Play the two hands, if there is the slightest 
doubt in your mind. In the first instance, 
Z-Y can easily make their contract. In the 
second (with trump strength, alone, in Dummy), 
they lose seven tricks, and are thus "set" for 
ioo, — or 200 if A should happen to double on 
his side-suits. 

We come now to the last player, B, who must 
be guided by all the information given by the 
previous bids and by the rules already quoted. 
Let me make one suggestion to him : if the score 
is low, and the other side has the bid at "one 
spade" let B be very wary of taking them out of 
it by bidding "no-trump," even on a beautiful 
no-trump hand. For, by their own declaration, 
they are weak while he is strong. Then, why 
not use his good hand to defeat their bid, and 
take fifty or a hundred, instead of ten or twenty? 
If B feels sure of going game (three-odd) on his 
hand, let him declare his no-trump; otherwise, I 
should certainly advise him to permit the ad- 
versaries to make him a present of 50, or 100 
points. 

Make the other side work for you whenever you 
can ! There is one situation about which I am 
questioned more frequently than about any 
other. Suppose you have bid "a no-trump," 



40 Fine Points of Auction 

and the other says "two hearts" ; you have the 
hearts nicely stopped and can easily go to 
"two no-trumps." Shall you do that, or shall 
you double the adversary on his "two hearts"? 
To this I invariably answer: " Would you rather 
work like a slave for twenty cents, or have some 
one make you a present of a dollar?' 1 For that 
is what it amounts to. If you take the bid at 
"two no-trumps/ yours is the work and the 
responsibility; you must take 8 tricks and, if 
you take them, they are worth but 20. If, 
on the other hand, you double the adversary's 
two hearts, he will have the work and the anxiety, 
and if you take 6 tricks (not 8), you make a 
hundred; if 7, two hundred; and if 8, three 
hundred instead of twenty! Which would you 
choose? 

Of course, if those two no-trump tricks will 
give you the rubber with its attendant 250, you 
are at liberty to make your bid and take them ; 
but otherwise, double the adversary's bid in 
preference to bidding. 

Having looked into the opening bid for all 
of the four players, I will return to the test 
hand that was put before you, a little while 
back, and discuss its subsequent bidding. You 
remember the score was love-all and the cards 
lay as follows; 



Subsequent Bids 



41 



tf 56 

tfr J75 

4 986543 



^7 10 3 2 
4k A K Q 10 8 
953 
4 J 10 




Y 
A 

Z 


B 


^? AKQJ9874 

«f» 43 

4 K3 



9— 

4^ 962 

<>AKQ10 762 
4k A Q 7 

Z opens with "a diamond" only, because with 
a higher suit (hearts) against him, he must know 
the position of the clubs. A passes and Y bids 
"two clubs." The moment Z hears that bid 
of "two clubs," he has reason to hope that at 
least two, and probably all three of his little 
clubs will be taken care of by his partner. Now, 
indeed, he feels strong! For he knows that, 
with diamonds as trumps, he will not lose one 
trump round; he will not lose one round in 
hearts, for he will ruff them from the beginning ; 
his partner's hand may take care of the three 
club rounds, after trumps are exhausted; his 
ace of spades is good and the chances are two 
to one that his queen will be (the king lying 



42 Fine Points of Auction 

with A is the only thing that could hurt her). 

After Y's bid of "two clubs, " B bids "two 
hearts." B's heart hand looks stupendous and 
a novice would probably risk bidding it very 
high; its 64 honors and its long line of trumps 
would seem invincible. But, as a matter of 
fact, B should never bid more than three on it, 
and he cannot take more than two I For (and 
here follows the pith of the whole matter, as 
well as the most important rule that I have yet 
given you) : 

When you want to MAKE a high bid, count 
what you dare lose {not what you can take); and 
when you want to DOUBLE a high bid, count 
what you can take ! 

I wish that you would say this rule over and 
over till you cannot possibly forget it! I wish 
I could put a calcium light in front of it, and a 
sign-post on each side! It is the groundwork 
of all good bidding and doubling — the founda- 
tion of the entire edifice, — and its observance 
is one of the greatest marks of good Auction. 
Now behold what follows: 

Z, reckoning his hand, realizes that if his 
partner holds the high clubs, he, himself, holds 
but two losing cards — the queen and the seven 
of spades, — and that there are two chances to one 
that his queen will take, leaving but one losing 



Subsequent Bids 43 

card, with a chance to discard even that on one 
of his partner's clubs. He can therefore afford 
to bid it up to a small slam, if necessary; and, 
as luck is with him, and the king of spades lies 
under his fourchette, he can make a grand slam 
in diamonds, against the best possible defence. 
B, on the other hand, finds that he has two losing 
clubs (and he knows from the bidding that Y 
will take them), one losing diamond (which 
will, of course, be captured by Z), and a very 
small chance of making his king of spades, — as 
there is no more pitiful object than a king with 
one bare guard, lying under a strong hand on 
the left. He therefore has probably five losing 
cards in his hand, leaving only 8 tricks that he 
can take, — a bid of "two hearts. " However, 
relying on his wonderful hearts, his diamond 
singleton, and his hope of the ace of spades lying 
with his partner, he caps Z's bid of " three dia- 
monds' with " three hearts." Z promptly 
answers with "four diamonds." Now, if B is 
sufficiently foolish to bid "four hearts" (32), 
Z can bid "five diamonds," in which case, he 
will make a grand slam and score 145 (49 points, 
40 for slam, and 56 for honors.) Or, he can 
double B's "four hearts" and make a hundred, 
and that without a heart in his hand. But "when 
you want to double a high bid, you count what 



44 Fine Points of Auction 

you can take"; with a bid of "four hearts 
from B, Z's book would be three; his own two 
aces and his partner's ace of clubs would make 
that book (if they don't get ruffed), and Z-Y 
hold, in addition, two kings and three queens, 
one of which should take. So if B holds two 
diamonds, two clubs, or two spades, Z-Y will 
set him for one trick. And B must hold some- 
thing besides hearts with those thirteen cards 
in his hand. 

While we are still on the subject of the bid, 
I must warn you of the penalties that lie in 
wait for a player who makes a bid that fails to 
cover the previous one. Suppose some one says 
"two diamonds" and the next bidder declares 
"a no-trump"; his bid does not cover the 
previous one, for two diamonds outrank a 
no-trump. The faulty bidder is forced to make 
a bid in the suit he has named, that will cover the 
previous bid; in other words, he is forced to bid 
"two no-trumps, " whether he wants to or not. 
He cannot say "two hearts, " or anything other 
than "two no-trumps." Thus: Z opens with 
"a heart"; A goes "two diamonds"; Y has the 
diamonds nicely stopped and has a good black 
suit, so he says "a no-trump," which is not 
enough. Now if B should bid, pass, or double, 
before Y's error is discovered, Y cannot be 



Subsequent Bids 45 

punished; his bid stands as a correct bid at 
"one no-trump/ ' and either he or his partner 
can do anything further that may suit them. 
But, if when Y declares "a no-trump," either 
adversary should say, "That is not enough," 
then Y is forced to bid " two no-trumps. " And, 
in addition to this, if B should pass, Y's partner, 
Z, cannot bid and take him out of his predica- 
ment. Y has fallen into a hole and is further 
penalized by being forced to lie in it, unless the 
adversary is kind enough to help him out, by 
bidding or doubling. 

If a player has made a bid and has been 
doubled, it is necessary to cover the original 
bid only (not the double), in order to raise the 
bid. Thus: Z bids "two diamonds" (14), 
and A doubles ; the two diamonds are now worth 
28 to Z, if he makes them, but they count for 
14 only, as far as bidding is concerned. They 
may be covered by " two hearts, " "three clubs, " 
or anything that exceeds fourteen. You raise the 
bid, not the double. 

There is a school of bidding which is diametri- 
cally opposed to the one we have just been study- 
ing; while I do not adopt it, no one can be a 
good Auction player unless he understands it. 
You may even choose to follow it; it has excel- 
lent points in its favor, but, to my mind, some 
flaws. 



46 Fine Points of Auction 

This school bids "a spade " on every good 
hand, and "a no-trump' ' on every poor one; 
but don't cry "How absurd !" until you hear 
their reasons. They hold, in the first place, 
that Auction is the exact opposite of Bridge, 
and that a different system should govern it. 
This reason I consider rather poor and childish. 
But their second claim, namely, that it is im- 
portant to get information as to the position of 
the high cards is certainly a good one. It is 
true that if you open with a no-trump bid your 
partner will not be apt to bid and show you 
what high cards he holds; but then, if you are 
lucky enough to hold the no-trump in the 
beginning, you don't greatly need information 
from him. And your bid will keep the adver- 
saries from showing each other what they hold 
(which is a point to consider), or it will force 
them to a bid of two or more, and give them 
more trouble. Again, if you have bid "a no- 
trump," they will hate to let you get your 
contract at one, in a high suit, and will either 
try to make a forcing-bid, or to declare any very 
good red suit they may hold; so that, while you 
may block information from your partner, you 
will be more apt to get it from the adversaries, 
— which will give you two sources instead of 
one. Had you bid u a spade," the adversaries 



Svxbseq-uent Bids 47 

would almost certainly have refrained from 
bidding, — so where would your information be? 

This other school claims, further, that you 
should use strong hands to " boost and defeat 
the bid, " instead of bidding; suppose every one 
at the table uses this system, — who is going 
to bid, except the dealer, who is forced to? 
And, when you have used your hand to " boost, " 
why may they not refuse to be boosted, and 
leave you with your boost, as a bid? 

However, according to this school, if Z (the 
dealer) picks up his hand and finds a perfectly 
good no-trumper, he bids "a spade. " The 
adversary on his left passes, for it is one of their 
rules (and a most excellent one) never to take the 
adversary out of a black bid. So A passes and 
Y is forced to bid, merely to keep the bidding 
open. His partner has shown a no-trump 
hand by his bid, and he certainly does n't 
want it to close at "a spade"; and, if Y should 
pass, the second adversary, B, would be only 
too glad to do likewise and leave Z to play spades 
with a no-trump hand, and thus save 10 points a 
trick. So Y must bid. If he holds a sure 
trick in any suit, he must name that suit; he 
would say "a club," or "a diamond," holding 
only a queen and two little spots, or a singleton 
ace. If he has not a trick in his hand, he must 



48 Fine Points of Auction 

say "two spades " (merely to keep the bidding 
open) ; or, if his only sure trick is in spades, he 
must say " three spades." Then B passes 
(all this is cut and dried) , and Z sits up and does 
what he might as well have done in the first 
place, bids his no-trump. If you ask him why 
he did n't do it at once, his only answer will 
be: " Because I don't belong to that school." 
His one advantage is that he has discovered 
whether or not his partner holds a sure trick and, 
if so, in which suit it lies. 

Now, having adopted "one spade" as a 
signal for a good hand, they cannot use it for 
a poor one; and, if Z picks up a hand in which 
there is nothing higher than a nine-spot, he is 
forced to bid u a no-trump . " This is the draw- 
back to the system; but its devotees claim that 
no-trump gives your partner four chances to 
help you, instead of one; and that, on a nine- 
spot hand, you are going to lose anyhow, and it 
costs no more to lose in no-trump than in spades. 
But this is not quite true; if you held that poor 
hand and had to play it as "one spade," Law 50 
would protect you and limit your losses to 100 
above the line, even with a grand slam against 
you. Whereas, with this grand slam against 
you on a no-trump declaration, the adver- 
saries score 7 tricks at 50 apiece — 350, in- 



Subsequent Bids 49 

stead of ioo, — the difference of the value of a 
rubber. Moreover, if you declare "a spade' ' 
on a poor hand, your partner can pull you out 
with any low declaration, "a club, " "a dia- 
mond, " "a heart/ ' or "a no-trump"; whereas, 
if you declare "a no-trump/ ' he would have to 
take a contract of at least two tricks, in order 
to help you out, and he is forbidden (by this 
school) to make any bid whatever when you have 
declared "a no- trump.' ' Your declaration 
means that he is to let you alone. 

If Z has neither "a spade" bid, nor "a no- 
trump' ' bid, he makes a suit-bid, — "one" for 
a short strong suit (such as ace-king-small), 
"two" for a long weak suit (such as seven to a 
queen). 

To epitomize this school of bidding: 

Any very good hand is "a spade" (partner 
must bid). 

Any very poor hand is "a no-trump" (part- 
ner must not bid). 

Anything between the two is a suit bid ; "one " 
for a short strong suit," two " for a long weak one. 

To my mind, the disadvantages of this school 
outnumber its good points. To go to the root 
of the matter, why make a high bid (which is 
hard to cover) when you are weak? And why 
make a low one when you want to play the 

4 



50 Fine Points of Auction 

hand? Is it not better to make your low bid 
when you are in distress, and thus give your 
partner a chance to pull you out with anything 
he happens to hold, — no matter how low its 
suit- value? 

Its good points are two: first, never to take the 
adversary out of a low black bid (with this I 
heartily agree. I have already begged you not 
to declare "a no-trump " over your adversary's 
bid of "one spade"). And second, to remem- 
ber that strong hands should often be used to 
defeat the bid, rather than to capture it. And 
this, too, I have begged you to remember, 
but only when the deal is against you. That is 
your happy interval, when you are free to decide 
whether to use a good hand for bidding or for 
defeating the bid. When you deal and are 
forced to bid, make as good a bid as your hand 
warrants. 

In passing, it may be interesting to know that, 
in order to decide the relative value of the two 
schools of bidding, three friends and I played 
twelve successive hands. We were fairly equal 
in skill and experience ; two of us were exponents 
of one school, two of the other. We each chose 
two adversaries and made up two complete 
tables, — passing the hands from one table to 
the other, as in duplicate whist. In every one 



Subsequent Bids 51 

of the twelve hands, our school obtained better 
results, when the deal was with us (that dread 
time !) . Between deals, the results were approxi- 
mately the same ; probably because it is on the 
opening bid that the two schools split. But 
in that test, at least, the school I have been 
teaching you, certainly triumphed. 

However, some excellent players are enrolled 
under the banner of the opposite system; and, 
whether or not you play it, you must understand 
it and be able to detect it in partner or adversary. 
For, I repeat, the best Auction player is not always 
the one with the best system of play; but the one 
who can best recognize and understand every system. 
If you meet an adversary who bids u a spade" 
and then produces every ace and king in the 
pack, you will know him to be of the opposite 
school. Then remember these two things: if 
he bids " a spade, " bid against him if you have a 
good suit declaration; for he has a no-trump 
hand and you don' t want him to get the bid too 
easily; and again: if he bids u a no-trump," 
don't bid against him, for he is so weak you can 
probably defeat his no-trump. 

To blend the good points of both schools 
seems to me the sensible thing to do. Do 
not misunderstand me and think I am advising 
you to play sometimes one and sometimes the 



52 Fine Points of -Auction 

other. That would be horrible; concerted ac- 
tion between partners is of the first importance, 
and it would take a wizard to decide whether 
your no-trump bid meant a good hand or a poor 
one, if you were so uncertain as that. Choose 
your school and stick to it, but let it embrace 
the strong points of the other. I should cover 
the ground in this way : rarely take the adversary 
out of a spade, let his partner do that, then do 
your own bidding later; often use good hands 
to defeat the make, when you are not forced to 
bid ; do not make bids that pre-empt the bidding, 
if you need certain information; but, if you as 
dealer are forced to bid, and if you have a good 
hand and feel able to play it and score, why 
waste time on a stereotyped round of bidding? 
Declare your no-trump at once. As to the 
"getting of information, " you are just as apt 
to get it in one school as the other; if not from 
partner, then from adversary. 

Above all, never make the mistake of scorning 
and condemning any school simply because it 
is not your own. That is the greatest of errors. 
Study every school, see its good points, and put 
yourself in the position where no system of bid- 
ding can nonplus you. 



The Double 

Doubling is the essence of Auction. If it 
be true (as it undoubtedly is) that the penalties 
are what bring in the winnings at Auction, it 
stands to reason that, when they are doubled, 
your winnings are increased one hundred per 
cent. On the other hand, poor doubling in- 
creases your losses in even greater proportion 
(on account of the "bonus"). 

Beginners in Auction are generally timorous 
about doubling, not realizing at first how few 
tricks they need often take in order to make the 
double stand good. Once convinced of this, 
they are apt to rush to the other extreme and to 
double far too frequently. One state is as bad 
as the other. I shall try to make it clear to you 
when to double and when to refrain. The 
subject is tremendously interesting, and it is for- 
tunately possible to give a great many terse rules 
that are easily committed to memory and that 
will serve as a guide until long habit has con- 
quered the difficulties that surround the double, 

53 



54 Fine Points of A\iction 

First, get clearly into your head the difference 
between the double in Auction and in Bridge. 
In Bridge, you never double unless you expect 
to take at least the odd — i.e., seven tricks. 
You rarely undertake such a contract in Auction, 
for you rarely double a bid of one. But when 
the other side has been beguiled into making a 
bid of more than one, you double if you think you 
can keep them from taking what they bid — not 
if you can take that many yourself. If they have 
bid three in anything, your book is four; and if 
you and your partner have a fair chance between 
you of taking five tricks (or more than five) , 
you double. The higher you can force the 
adversaries to bid, the easier it will be to double 
them. Some authorities advise you to double 
every bid of three or four, just on general 
principles, but I take exception to this. Too 
many three and four bids go through perfectly; 
even a bid of a small slam will often win out. 
Double when, by actual count of the tricks in your 
hand, you really stand a fair chance of defeating 
the bid. But don't get the doubling fever! 

Double in preference to bidding, unless the 
bid will put you game or rubber. If you have 
bid "a no-trump' ' and the adversary says 
"two hearts," you may find yourself in the 
position where you can either double the two 



TKe Double 55 

hearts or go to "two no-trumps. M If the latter 
will give you rubber, bid it. Otherwise, double 
the two hearts ; for then the adversary will have 
to do the work and take eight tricks while you 
need only hold him back; and if you succeed 
you get ioo a trick instead of 10. Would you 
rather work like a slave for 20 cents, or have some 
one make you a present of a dollar ? 

Do your doubling early in the rubber (so as 
to pile up "velvet" for yourself), and make a 
dash for game-points (below the line) towards 
the end. 

Remember that quick sure rubbers (where 
you secure all the bids and play all the hands) 
are always low rubbers. If you want the score 
to run high, use some of your good hands to 
defeat the bid instead of to secure it. 

Now let us see when not to double. 

Never forget that a poor double is disastrous 
in its effects. Suppose the other side has secured 
the bid at "two diamonds"; if they get them, 
the tricks are worth but seven apiece, if you get 
them they are worth fifty — that is, seven times 
as much as theirs; the odds are seven to one 
against the player. Now, if you make a weak 
double, you raise their trick-value to fourteen 
apiece (if they make them), and you give them, 
in addition, a little present of fifty (the bonus) 



56 Fine Points of Auction 

for so doing. And you also give them the chance 
of redoubling and raising their tricks to twenty- 
eight apiece and their bonus to one hundred. All 
this is a gift from you, on the strength of your 
weak double. 

A bad double is worse than a bad bid. No 
matter how poor your bid is, the adversaries 
cannot go game or rubber on it, for they can 
score above the line only ; but if you make a bad 
double, you w T ill often put them game or rubber. 

Don't double a bid of one. It is too easy to 
make, in the first place, and too easy to get out 
of, in the second. If a player is doubled on a 
bid of "one heart," he or his partner can often 
shift to a bid of "one no-trump/ ' "two diamonds," 
or "two clubs,' and play it with ease. Try 
to force him to a higher bid than one, and then 
double him when you have him in a tight place. 
If you were chasing a burglar, would n't you 
rather get him into a fourth-story room with an 
open window, than in a ground-floor room with 
an open window? When you get him so high, 
the window is as great a peril as you are. He 
can't get out! 

Don't double unless you are prepared to double 
again, no matter where the adversary shifts. At 
first, you won't like this rule and you will 
think that it curtails your chances of doubling. 
But you will come to see that no better rule was 



THe Double 



57 



ever made. Suppose the adversary bids "two 
diamonds" and you have a fair chance of de- 
feating him; if you pass, he will never know of 
the pit yawning before him ; he will play it at 
diamonds, and if you defeat him you will get 
fifty a trick. If you double him, he or his 
partner may shift to another suit ; you may not be 
able to do anything in that suit, and they will 
score instead of you. In reaching for a hundred 
you have lost your fifty. Remember that a bird 
in the hand is worth two in the bush. A fair 
example of such a hand would be the following : 
The make is against you, and you are A. Z 
deals and the cards are distributed thus (the 
score being 24 to 18 in favor of Z-Y) : 

^?J108742 
£Q964 



1 


(kAK2 




9q 

dfrAKJlOS 
K Q 10 8 7 3 


Y 
A B 

Z 


^A658 
£873 

£98763 


1 

< 

1 


S?K9 

<>AJ9643 

4b Q J 10 5 





Z might declare "a no-trump" on this hand, 



58 Fine Points of -/Vuction 

but a much better declaration, to the score, 
would be "a diamond/' This just suits A, 
but he must n't double a one-bid, for fear the 
adversary will either make it, or shift to another 
suit; so he " boosts " the bid by saying' "two 
clubs. " Y and B pass, and Z bids "two dia- 
monds " on the strength of his singleton club 
and two spade honors, and his blissful ignorance 
of the good diamond hand that is " over " him. 
This is what A hoped for, but he must n't double ; 
for if the adversary should go to hearts, where 
would he be? And this is just what Y would do ; 
he would n't bid hearts on a jack-suit on the 
opening round ; and he would be very chary of 
bidding two on any suit that held neither ace 
nor king. But, with the odds announced as 
against his partner, and the tricks worth a 
hundred apiece against them, he would risk 
"two hearts" on a long weak suit with two 
honors (6 hearts are half the hearts in the pack) , 
on his missing diamond suit of which his partner 
has indicated the ace, and on his own ace-king 
of spades and queen of clubs. And on the 
strength, too, of the fact that he is not assuming 
any heavier contract ; his partner's bid was for 
eight tricks — and his is for eight, — no more. 
His partner's was doubled and they stand to 
lose a hundred a trick ; his may not be doubled 



THe Double 



59 



and they may lose but fifty, if they lose at all. 
Thus, if A should double the "two diamonds' ' 
bid, he would frighten the adversary to hearts 
and lose everything. If he passes, they play 
it at "two diamonds, " and A scores fifty a 
trick. A should not double unless he could 
double again, no matter where they jumped. 

It is often possible to double a bid without a 
trump in your hand. The following hand will 
prove this: 



( 


£?AKJ8762 


< 


< 


£643 






<>62 






* 5 






ty 10 4 3 


Y 




^Q5 


* 8 


A 


B 


£10 9 5 


<^>10 7 4 






<>53 


£ Q97642 


Z 




▲ A K J 10 8 3 



99 

Jff AKQJ72 
O AK QJ98 

The score is 20 to 18 on the rubber game, 
in favor of Z-Y. Both sides want to play the 
hand and score rubber, or to keep the adversaries 
from playing the hand and scoring rubber. 



60 Fine Points of Auction 

Z bids "a diamond, " A passes, Y bids "a 
heart/' and B "a royal." Z says' 'two diamonds," 
A "two royals," and Y and B pass. (Y might 
say " three hearts," in which case B would say 
" three royals," but we will imagine that they 
both pass.) Z goes to "three diamonds." If 
his partner holds the ace of hearts, he has not a 
losing card in his hand ; he could bid a diamond 
grand slam if necessary. A and Y pass, and B 
bids "three royals " ; he wants that bid even at a 
certain loss, for he holds 72 honors, and if Z plays 
a diamond hand successfully, he takes rubber. 

Z says "four diamonds," and B says "four 
royals"; now "five diamonds" would be 35 and 
would not beat "four royals" (36), so Z is 
forced to bid a small slam in diamonds. B 
responds with "five royals." Z bids his grand 
slam (he, too, has some honors to harvest), and 
B answers with "six royals," which Z cannot 
possibly cover. So he doubles royals without a 
trump in his hand! His book is one trick, and he 
and his partner, between them, hold three out of 
four suits. B holds thirteen cards and must 
have something other than spades. 

Z-Y make 400 on suit-leads before B ever gets 
in to lead trumps. From this loss, B deducts 
81 honors, making his total loss on the hand 
389. If he had allowed Z to play the diamond 



TKe Double 



61 



hand Z would have scored: seven tricks (49), 
grand slam (40), honors (56), and rubber (250) — - 
a total of 395. In addition to this the rubber 
would have been closed. Whereas by bidding, 
B kept the rubber open and has now an equal 
chance with Z-Y of taking it eventually. So 
every one is happy. 

Doubling is sometimes resorted to as a bluff, 
in order to frighten the adversary out of one suit 
and into another ; but this is rather risky business. 
The following hand will illustrate: 

^7 A Q 972 

dfrJ842 

07 

4jb 10 3 2 



^?J654 




Y 




$10 3 


dfrl0 9 6 








4» AK53 


03 


A 




B 


KQ1096 


4k AQ653 




Z 




4kK9 



9^8 

AJ8543 
*J74 



Z deals and bids "a diamond," — to B's 
secret delight. A passes (possibly) and Y bids 



62 Fine Points of -Auction 

"a heart/ because he has five to two honors, 
and is terribly weak in diamonds. This does 
not suit B at all ; he wants to play it as diamonds, 
so he promptly doubles Y's heart-bid, hoping to 
frighten Z back into diamonds. The ruse 
succeeds and Z makes the desired bid of "two 
diamonds. " A passes, and Y (thinking B 
holds all the hearts that he lacks) passes also. 
Then B passes because he has succeeded in 
coaxing Z into a trap. This sort of bluff -doub- 
ling should seldom be resorted to, and never 
unless the person you want to deceive bids im- 
mediately after you. If you double a good heart- 
bid, on a bluff, and the man you double speaks 
next, he will redouble and call your bluff before 
the bid can get around to his partner whom 
you want to deceive. You must be so placed 
as to bid immediately after the man who makes 
the undesirable bid, and before his partner w T hom 
you wish to frighten back to his original suit. 
Even then, it is a poor plan, for all good players 
realize that no one makes a legitimate double of a 
one-bid; also, that if a person doubles one suit 
he stands ready to double all others. No first- 
grade player could be bluffed by such a double. 

Having settled the double and non-double, 
let us put the verb into the passive voice and 
say a word to the player who gets doubled. 

Don't get panic-stricken when doubled, and 



The Double 63 

rush blindly into another bid that will give 
you more work to do. Probably more is lost 
in Auction in this way than in any other — by 
jumping into a heavier contract than the one 
you are already carrying, — and with less material 
to carry it with. If you are doubled, and can 
get out by going to a higher suit and making a 
bid with fewer tricks in it, do so by all means; 
but never add to your burden. If you are coaxed 
up to a bid of "six hearts" and doubled, it is 
often well to shift to "five no-trump," if you 
have the slightest material, for it is one trick 
less to work for. But if you are doubled at 
"two no-trump/ think a long while before 
you jump to "three hearts," or "four dubs," 
which will give you just that much more to 
carry. And don't get frightened at the double; 
play even a losing hand calmly, and lose as 
little on it as possible. 

When you are doubled and are hesitating 
between shifting to a trump-make or a no-trump- 
make, remember this : on a shaky hand, the chances 
in any declared trump are slightly in favor of the 
maker. That is because he can often use low 
trumps in one hand to ruff losing cards in the 
other, and can sometimes even establish that 
most valuable of aids — a cross-ruff. But in 
a shaky no-trump the chances are against the 
maker, because he has no way of coming in on 



64 Fine Points of -Auction 

the adversary's long suit. On a shaky hand, 
then, stick to a trump-make rather than jump 
to no-trump. 

Don't feel that because your partner has been 
doubled, you are forced to pull him out with 
some wild, inexcusable bid. Often he is extremely 
satisfied with his position and wants nothing 
but to be left alone. All Auction players know 
the unpleasantness of being pulled out of a 
double when they want to stay in. Sometimes, 
of course, when your partner has been doubled, 
he is in a bad way. If you can make a reasonable 
bid and come to his rescue, do so by all means. 

By a "reasonable" bid, I mean one that you 
would not hesitate to make even if you did not 
feel you were in a hole. But for Heaven's sake 
don't try to rescue him by bids that have no 
possible excuses or foundation! 

When the adversary has made a bid that will 
put him game (if he makes it), and you cannot 
bid against him, but have a fair chance of 
defeating his bid, — then double him. It is 
what is known as a "free double. " He is going 
game anyhow, if he goes anything, and you 
might as well try to pull out as much as possible, 
if you "set" him. 

If your partner has been doubled and has 
refrained from redoubling, it is impossible for 
you to know whether he has refrained from fear 



The Double 



65 



(and is therefore in a bad way), or whether he 
is extremely pleased at being doubled and does 
not redouble simply because he does not want 
the bid changed. In the one case, he would be 
very glad to be rescued; in the other, nothing 
could be more provoking. Don't forget that 
there is this chance (that he likes his position), 
and ask yourself always, whether his refraining 
from redoubling is "from fright, or delight/' 
As a rule, if you can pull him out with a "rea- 
sonable" bid, you should do so. But never 
rush into the breach with a forlorn hope. He 
knows what he is about when he bids ; give him 
the credit for that. Let me illustrate this by 
repeating the hand already given a few para- 
graphs back. The score is 20 to 18 on the 
rubber game, in favor of Z-Y: 



( 

< 

1 


JOAKJ8762 

£643 

(>62 

* 5 




ty 10 4 3 

^ 10 7 4 
£ Q97642 


Y 
A 

Z 


B 


9Q5 
£10 9 5 

O 53 

£ A K J 10 8 3 



^9 

£ AKQ J72 
<£> AKQJ98 

♦ 



66 Fine Points of -Auction 

In this hand, as we played it before, Z bid 
"seven diamonds" and B covered with "six 
royals," to save rubber. He lost 389 points 
(which was a saving of 6 points), and he kept the 
rubber open. Now suppose, instead of bidding, 
B had doubled the "seven diamonds," Z would 
be entranced. He knows he can make it and it 
will be worth 486 points, 250 for rubber, 98 for 
tricks, 48 for honors, 80 for slam, and 50 for 
contract. But Z must not redouble for fear of 
frightening B back to royals! So he passes, and 

Y sees his partner with a seven-trick contract, 
doubled, and refraining from- redoubling. Is it 
from fright, or delight? Shall he let him alone, 
or shall he "rescue " him by jumping to hearts? — 

Y has distinctly not a seven-heart bid ; he should 
certainly pass and trust to his partner's good 
sense and judgment. 

To sum up for the double or non-double, then : 
A good double increases your winnings one 
hundred per cent. But a poor double is far 
more disastrous in its effects than a poor make. 
The adversaries may go game on your double; 
they can never go game on your make. 



Keeping the Flag Flying 

When you make a consciously losing bid 
with the sole object of keeping the other side 
from going rubber and of thus staying in the game 
yourself, it is called " keeping the flag flying. " 
It is beloved of amateurs, and can be greatly 
overdone. 

You can afford to lose 450 above the line 
(no more), to save rubber, — if you go rubber 
yourself later. If the other side goes rubber 
eventually, you lose that and your 450 to boot. 
But the rubber makes a difference of 500 — that 
is, it is 250 plus for one side, and 250 minus for 
the other. Therefore, anything under 500 is a 
profitable loss in order to save rubber. Suppose 
your grand total is 600 (in points and honors), 
and the adversaries' grand total is 200. The 
play will put either side game and rubber, and 
you get a losing hand. If you allow the other 
side to go rubber, they are 200 plus 250, or 
450 to your 600, — a difference of 150. Suppose 
you make a losing bid in order to save rubber, 

. 67 



68 Fine Points of Auction 

and they score 450 above the line; they are 
then 650 to your 600. The next hand you go 
rubber; 250 plus your 600 is 850; and sub- 
tracting their 650, you are 200 points to the 
good, instead of 150 points. You have made 
50 points by losing 450. But you had to take 
rubber eventually to do it! 

I have been in a situation of this kind, where 
I bid a club small slam on 8 clubs to the queen- 
jack-ten, and very little side-suit, — a certain 
losing bid. I was doubled and lost 500 above 
the line. The very next hand, I got all the 
aces and kings in the pack, and went rubber 
with flying colors, on a no-trump grand slam 
with a hundred aces. But do not, I beg of 
you, feel it necessary to "keep the flag flying" 
to the tune of 700 or 800, and never do it to 
save game, only to save rubber. Save game 
by your play } and rubber by your bid!! 



The Play 

We will now suppose that the bidding is 
over; three successive players have passed and 
it is time to settle down to the play of the hand. 
Do you play just as you would in plain Bridge, 
or do you not? 

To this, I answer "Yes and no. " The rules 
of Bridge obtain, except where the bids of your 
partner and your adversaries show you that 
it is wise to disregard them; in other wx>rds, you 
are enabled, by the bids, to place the suits, to 
lead your partner's suit (instead of your own), 
and to lead through the adversaries' strength and 
not up to it. 

Be sure to remember which adversary is to 
play the hand and whether it is your partner's 
lead or your own. Be careful not to lead out of 
turn, for, if you do, the adversary who play? 
the hand may call a suit for your partner to 
lead, and this is often very disastrous. 

Remember that if both your adversaries have 
been bidding on the same suit, the hand is 

69 



70 Firle Points of .Auction 

played by the one who first named the suit. 
Between two partners, the one who first named the 
final suit plays the hand. Between two adver- 
saries, the one who last named the final suit 
captures the bid and plays the hand. 

For instance: Z bids "a heart"; A bids "a 
no-trump" ; Y bids " two hearts, " and every one 
passes. The hand is played at "two hearts" 
by Z, because he first (of the two partners) 
named the suit. But if Z bids "a heart," and 
A bids "two hearts," and every one else passes, 
then A takes the bid away from his adversary 
Z, and plays the hand at "two hearts," himself. 

Be sure, then, to remember which adversary 
plays the hand, and whether it is your lead or 
your partner's. If it is yours, lead as you would 
in Bridge, if you lead your own suit; but if 
you lead to your partner's bid (as you certainly 
should do, unless you have an excellent suit of 
your own), lead him the highest card you hold of 
his suit. Some authorities say that, holding 
five of your partner's suit headed by an honor, 
you should lead your fourth-best. But, as a 
rule, if it is your partner's suit he can take care 
of it; and you will help him to read it, and to 
clear it, by leading him your highest. If your 
partner has bid on diamonds, and you hold the 
queen of diamonds with two small, your lead 



The Play 



71 



is queen, not small. Holding those cards and 
also the ace-king of a side-suit (say spades), 
you are at perfect liberty to lead your king of 
spades (to show ace), and then your queen of 
diamonds. 

When the suits have been placed, try always 
to lead through strength, not up to it. A king 
and one, or a queen and two, will always prove 
a perfectly good stopper, if led up to, but it can 
often be killed entirely by being led through. 
Suppose the cards are as follows: 



<7 



4* 10 6 5 4 3 

(>KJ4 
4k 9 8 6 3 2 



^AQ87654 
4k J 7 
O Q2 

4k 54 




£J j 9 2 

4^ 8 2 

9 8 7 5 5 

4k A K 7 



^7 K 10 3 
d|k A K Q 9 
A 10 6 
4k Q J 10 



Z says "a no-trump 7 '; A says "two hearts," 
and Y and B pass. Z has the hearts nicely 



72 Fine Points of Auction 

stopped, so he bids "two no-trumps' ' on what 
looks like a perfectly invincible hand. A refuses 
to go any higher with such poor side-suits (he 
could bid two odd in hearts, but not three), 
so Z gets the bid at "two no-trumps, " having 
shown by his bid that he held a heart stopper. 
Now A realizes that this stopper is probably 
the king; and he realizes, too, that it lies under 
his ace-queen, that he holds the "fourchette" 
over it and can kill it, if it is led through. But 
it is his own lead. If he should lead his suit 
(hearts), it would be up to declared strength 
in Z's hand, and it would make his king good. 
Z would take either the first or the second round 
of hearts and go game (nine tricks) before A 
and B ever saw light again. So A tries to throw 
his partner in the lead, that he may give him a 
heart through Z's stopper. To this end, A leads 
the highest card of his own weakest suit (the 
five of spades), hoping to throw B in. B comes 
in with the king of spades, and leads his highest 
card of his partner's suit — the jack of hearts. 
This makes Z's king absolutely valueless, and 
A-B take nine tricks (seven in hearts and two 
in spades) — thus "setting" the adversary for 
three tricks (150 points). See what a difference 
the lead makes. In one case, Z goes game; in 
the other, he loses 150 points. It is merely a 



TKe Play 73 

question of leading up to a stopper, or leading 
through it. Had Y held the heart-stopper, 
instead of Z, then A would have known that the 
stopper was bound to be good because it lay- 
over his bid, not under it. In that case he 
should have led his hearts out at once and tried 
to clear them. But the hand could not possibly 
have scored. 

If a stopper lies over the bid, it is bound to make 
and may as well do it first as last. But if it lies 
under the bid, it should always be led through, 
never up to. If the stopper happens to be the 
ace, it has to take no matter where it lies, and 
you need not bother to try to lead through it. 

Conversely, it will be seen that an honor needs 
to be much better guarded (to prove a sure 
stopper), when that suit has been bid on the left 
of it. In rating your hand, you can always count 
the king of hearts and one small card good 
for one trick, if hearts have been bid on your 
right. If they have been bid on your left, your 
king with one small card is probably valueless. 

An ace is always a stopper, on either side, 
and a sequence of honors is also safe. With 
king-queen of hearts (and no more), you are 
bound to take one trick in hearts, no matter 
whence the lead comes, or where the ace lies. 
Queen-jack-ten is another invincible stopper. 



74 Fine Points of .Auction 

But all stoppers that are not aces or sequence- 
stoppers must be regarded as more or less safe 
according to whether they lie under the bid or 
over it. 

If your partner has been bidding on any suit 
(say diamonds), and the other side makes a no- 
trump bid which he doubles, of course he is 
doubling on those diamonds, and you must lead 
him your highest, if you have the lead. But 
suppose he doubles a no-trump bid without ever 
having named a suit, what are you to lead him? 

He must, of course, be doubling on some suit 
that is too low in value to be bid successfully 
against no-trump, — and the only such suit is 
clubs. If he held good spades he would bid 
them as royals; and he can't be doubling on a 
wonderful red suit ; for, if he held that, he would 
certainly bid it once, at least. He must be 
doubling on an established suit of clubs (in 
which case he wants you to lead your highest, 
that he may come in at once and make his 
whole suit) ; or he is doubling on general strength, 
in which case your lead can't hurt him, as he 
is bound to get the lead soon no matter what is 
pi ay ed . Therefore : 

If your partner doubles no-trumps without ever 
naming a suit, lead him your highest club! 

There is another very important point to 



THe Play 75 

remember; namely, that there are times when 
you cannot afford to go rubber. This could 
never happen in Bridge; there, you always take 
rubber if you can. But the penalty column in 
Auction is so important a factor that it alters 
everything. If the adversaries are hundreds 
ahead of you in penalties, — farther ahead than 
the rubber-value of 250 would offset, — and 
the Fates are good enough to offer you the 
choice between defeating some bid of theirs, or 
of taking rubber on a bid of your own, — you 
should always choose to defeat the bid. Then 
you still have your chance of the rubber, and it 
is a gain instead of a loss. Why close it at a 
loss when you are not forced to? What good 
is it going to do you to go about saying that you 
have " won the rubber, " if you have lost ten good 
dollars on it? "The rubber' ' is merely a form 
of words ; it is the side that pulls out the highest 
number of points that really wins, whether they 
go rubber or not. 

If you are on the other side of the fence and 
are well ahead, in penalties, never jeopardize 
your advantage by a risky bid. Your adver- 
saries cannot recover their losses unless you let 
them. Make any safe bid that comes your way, 
but absolutely no unsafe one. Don 't try to 
force, don't try to capture the bid (at a risk), 



76 Fine Points of .Auction 

don't do anything but sit tight on the " velvet" 
you have been lucky enough to accumulate. If 
the adversaries get all the good cards, let them 
go rubber; they will do so at a loss. It is 
exactly the same thing to win a rubber at a loss 
of any number of points as it is to lose it by 
the same number of points. 

With these exceptions, the lead and the play 
are just what they would be in good Bridge. 
Only, the naming of the suits (in the bidding) 
enables you to place them ; and, to this end, you 
must remember not only the final bid, but all 
previous bids. This done, make it your rule to 
lead through strength — not up to it — and you 
will not go far astray. 



Hints 

Don't try to play all the hands; often use a 
strong hand to defeat the bid. 

Try to score penalties on the adversary in 
the beginning of a rubber, and to secure the 
play of the hands at the end. 

Try not to let the adversary get the bid at 
one, in any high suit; but: 

Remember that a " forcing bid" doesn't 
always force; you may be left with it on your 
hands. 

Remember that a " short sure rubber" (where 
there are no penalties) is always a low rubber. 

Never make a risky bid, unless to go game or 
to save game. 

Rarely take the adversary out of a " one spade ' 
bid. 

Don't double one-bids; you will let your bur- 
glar out of the first-floor window. 

To double a person gives him a chance to 
change his bid; therefore: 

Never double unless you are prepared to double 
again, no matter where the adversary jumps. 

77 



78 Fine Points of Auction 

When you want to make a high bid, count 
what you dare lose; when you want to double 
a high bid, count what you can take. 

Double in preference to bidding; let the other 
side work for you. 

A bad double is worse than a bad bid. The 
adversary cannot go game or rubber on your 
bid, no matter how poor it is. He can go 
game on your double. 

Unless the bid would put you game, be content 
to yield it to the adversary, unless the bid will 
put him game; in that case, take it away even 
at a risk. If it would put him rubber, take it 
away even at a certain loss. 

You can afford to lose 450 above the line, in 
order to "keep the flag flying, " if you go rubber 
eventually. Any loss that greatly exceeds 450 
is unprofitable. 

A good double increases your winnings one 
hundred per cent. 

If your partner doubles no-trump without 
ever having named a suit, lead him your highest 
club. 

It is worth at least one or two tricks to have 
the play of the hand. If you have a no-trump 
hand and the adversary bids "a no-trump,' ' 
force him to two if possible (by a bid in a side- 
suit). If you cannot do this, it is better to take 



Hints 79 

the bid yourself at "two no-trumps" than to 
double his one. Of course, if you have the lead 
and hold an established suit of seven or more 
cards, it is better to double him. 

A shaky hand is safer as a declared trump than 
as a no-trump. 

The player's first care is to make what he bid; 
the adversaries' first care is to defeat the bid. 
Do your finessing after this is accomplished. 

Keep a keen eye on the score (both points and 
penalties), and don't go rubber unless you can 
afford to. 

Be a reliable partner and don't give false 
information. That is better than mystifying 
the adversary. 

Understand every "school" of play. 

Be careful about bidding two in any suit unless 
you hold ace or king. 

Never bid on a jack-suit, or a ten-suit, on 
the first round. Auction is a game of strength 
rather than length — a game of aces and kings. 

Never raise your partner's bid on trumps 
alone; you should have some side protection, a 
short suit, or a ruff. 

Never overbid your partner in his own suit, 
when there has been no intervening bid, but 
change the suit at will. 

To change your partner's bid to a bid in a lower 



80 Fine Points of .Auction 

suit (with no bid from the intervening adversary) 
should be a sign that you cannot help your part- 
ner in his suit. Because if you held any help at 
all for him, it would surely be much wiser to take 
his higher suit for trumps and your lower suit for 
the side-suit, — rather than to make trumps of 
the lower suit and side-suit of the higher one. 

Be very glad to change your partner's bid to 
a bid in a higher suit, except in the case of hearts 
or royals. Do not change either of these suits 
to no-trumps except as a "signal" that you are 
very weak (or chicane) in that suit, but can 
protect every other, — or unless you hold a 
hundred aces. A good heart, or a good royal, 
is good enough for any one. 

If you hold a poor hand, one that must lose, 
lose on your adversary's declaration rather than 
on your own; it is much less expensive, un- 
less his declaration would put him rubber. In 
that case, declare on your own hand. 

Almost any rule can be broken in a critical 
situation, if you know you are breaking it and 
if the occasion demands it. If there be one 
iron rule, it is: 

Never bid no-trump unless you stop the ad- 
versary's suit. 

Remember that you should save game by 
your play, and rubber by your bid. 



Hints 81 

Pay strict attention to all bids, in order to 
place the suits. Then make it an invariable 
rule to lead through strength, not up to it, and 
you won't go far astray, 

6 



A Warning against Overbidding 

There is no fault as common in Auction as 
overbidding; it is the rock which wrecks nine- 
tenths of the lost hands. It is constant and it 
is inexcusable. Players seem to feel that they 
are not playing real Auction unless they rise to 
the occasion and make some kind of a bid every 
time it comes around to them. Even holding 
hands upon which they would hate to be forced 
to bid in plain Bridge, they insist upon bidding 
them in Auction, when they are not forced to it. 

Let me see if I cannot cover the situation in a 
few words, and help you to cure yourself of 
this fault, if you have it. 

The dealer is forced to bid, but no one else is. 
And no one else should, unless he has a real 
reason for so doing. 

The first round is a declaration of high 
cards, not a make. If you have a "free" bid, 
(i. e. 9 if you are not dealer), never make a first 
bid on a suit unless you hold one or two of the 
three highest cards of that suit, and some- 

82 



Warning against Overbidding 83 

thing else besides. Pass rather. And even as 
dealer, remember that any bid (other than 
"one spade") must show high cards. You bid 
from strength, not length. 

On later rounds, the information you glean 
from partner and adversary may enable you to 
do something with a longer weaker suit; but 
even then don't keep going up, and up, on 
slight material. 

Never break any of these rules, except with the 
specific object of saving rubber. Nothing else 
will excuse you. 

You need not dread letting the adversary 
get the bid at " two diamonds/' or "two royals," 
on a clean score. It takes a good many tricks 
to go game in clubs, diamonds, hearts, or royals; 
with nothing on the game, it is the exceptional 
hand that will go game in the hand. And if 
your adversary holds that exceptional hand, he 
will get the bid in spite of you, — unless you give 
him a chance to do even better by doubling some 
silly weak bid of yours, and of thus piling up 
hundreds in penalties. Big penalties are the 
biggest possible thing in Auction; and if the 
adversary gets them, they are always a present 
from you. Do try to remember this ! He cannot 
make a big score unless you let him! He may get 
all the cards ; he may go game in one hand, and 



84 Fine Points of Auction 

rubber in two, — but it will be a very slight rub- 
ber. It will not please him nearly so well as 
one where you give him 700 or 800 in penalties, 
by overbidding your poor hands. 

Do digest this point. Auction was made to 
keep good hands from going to waste, not to 
encourage ridiculous bids on poor ones. You 
bid on good hands; and two good hands held 
against each other will often run the bidding very 
high. But you should rarely bid much on 
mediocre hands ; and never on poor ones, except 
to avert a catastrophe. The reason is so obvious 
that it seems odd to have to reiterate the advice. 
The only possible explanation of the poor bid- 
ding that is constantly seen, is the gambling- 
spirit that is said to lie somewhere in each of 
us. Remember, though, you cannot bluff in 
Auction as you can in poker, because all of the 
hands are played. How much bluffing would 
you attempt in poker, if you had the absolute 
certainty of being called every time? I smile 
whenever I hear any one insisting that " Auction 
is all bluff. " And I think I have had several 
thousand such smiles. It is a very common 
error, but an error just the same. 



Raising Your Partner's Bid 

Having attempted to guide your choice of 
bid in your own suit, I will try to show you how 
you should, or should not, go up in your part- 
ner's suit. 

When your partner bids his hand, he counts 
on one or two tricks that you are to take. 
Statistics show that nine-tenths of the hands 
dealt have at least one trick in them. Your 
partner will therefore allow one trick, at least, 
to your hand. It follows that you must never 
go higher, in his suit, unless you can give him 
more than the one trick on which he has already 
counted. For that trick cannot take twice. 

Suppose your partner has opened with "one 
heart' ' and the following adversary says "tw r o 
diamonds''; don't go to "two hearts" simply 
because you have the ace of trumps! That is 
only one trick, and your partner has counted 
upon one. You must hold something more, if 
you want to raise him. 

And just a word as to "raisers." In a de- 

85 



86 Fine Points of Auction 

clared trump they are aces, kings, singletons, 
missing suits, and guarded trump-honors, — ■ 
nothing else. No guarded queens nor guarded 
jacks in side-suits, may be counted as raisers; 
by the time a suit goes round the third time, 
or the fourth, one of the adversaries may be 
trumping it. Singletons are raisers, but double- 
tons are not ; you may easily lose both rounds of 
a suit in which you hold two poor cards. A 
singleton ace may be counted as two raisers, 
because you take with it on the first round and 
get a ruff on the second. A missing suit may be 
counted as two raisers, provided, of course, 
that you hold two trumps with which to ruff 
that suit when it is led. But none of these 
may be reckoned as a raiser until you have sub- 
tracted from your hand the one trick upon which 
your partner counted and which is the toll you must 
pay him. 

Suppose your partner bids "a heart," and 
this is your hand : 

4k 10 5 3 

<> Q542 

Now the adversary following your partner bids 
''two clubs"; you can raise your partner once, 



Raising Yoiar Partner's Bid 87 

but not twice; that is, you can go to u two hearts M 
but not to "three hearts." For you have one 
raiser, and one only, in your hand. Your 
guarded trump honor is the trick you owe your 
partner; and your king of spades is a raiser, 
unless royals should be bid on your left. In 
that case he would be useless, and you could not 
count him as a raiser. 

Now I will show you why that queen of 
diamonds is not a raiser. In almost all cases, 
you can count on two rounds of a side-suit 
going through ; that means that a side ace, or a 
side king, is a fairly sure trick. But the third 
round of a suit is a rather forlorn hope and should 
not be reckoned on. How many tricks are there 
in a hand? Thirteen. How many aces and 
kings? Eight. That leaves but five tricks to 
be divided amongst four queens, four jacks, and 
all the lower cards in the pack. You will easily 
see how slight a chance one of those eight 
queens and jacks might have at one of those five 
tricks. Your queen might happen to be one of 
the lucky ones — or it might not! 

A missing suit or a singleton ace, however, 
will put your hand out of the commonplace 
class and into the unusual. Either of them is 
worth all the side-queens and side-jacks put 
together. 



88 Fine Points of Auction 

At no-trump, it is exactly reversed. A missing 
suit is the most serious of drawbacks, and a 
singleton ace is only a little better. A well- 
guarded queen may always be counted as a 
trick, if her suit has not been bid on your left. 
If it has, she is good only if she is a sequence- 
stopper. Queen- jack-ten will always be a 
stopper, no matter where the ace and king of the 
suit may lie. 

Remember, then, in no-trump any guarded 
honor is "a trick, " and any other guarded honor 
is "a raiser. ,, But in declared trumps, three 
things are "tricks," — guarded trump-honors, 
side aces, and side kings; and raisers are these 
three and two additional things, — singletons 
and missing suits. And a trick and a raiser 
must always lie in different suits. 



Losing Rubbers 

I wish I could impress on my readers the 
necessity for keeping their eyes on the penalty 
column and of avoiding " losing* ' rubbers. Any 
one who plays for high stakes is not apt volun- 
tarily to take many such rubbers after a few 
bitter experiences. But those who play for 
the love of the game seem to feel that they have 
won something, even when they go rubber with 
a loss of 400 or 500 points. "At any rate, we 
won the rubber, " they will tell you, with pride. 

What satisfaction can there be in such a 
victory as that ? The ' ' rubber ' ' is simply a term ; 
the players who win the most points on their 
grand total are the winners, whether they have 
or have not added to their score the 250 for 
the rubber; and their adversaries are the losers. 

When the adversaries are far ahead of you 
(on the grand total), you simply cannot afford 
to go rubber, unless you are forced to. Any 
one who voluntarily takes a losing rubber 
definitely ends his own chances for that time. 

89 



90 Fine Points of .Auction 

As long as you keep the game going, you have a 
chance of getting even with the other side by 
some turn of luck, of "setting' them in their 
bid, and of wiping out the difference between 
their score and yours. 

Try, from the beginning, to keep the adver- 
saries from piling up big penalties against you. 
Should they happen to get such penalties, set 
yourself immediately to work to offset these 
penalties by winning some for yourself; in other 
words, begin at once to use your good hands 
for defeating the bid instead of for securing it. 
Don't wait until the game is far along and you 
can be put in the position of either taking a 
losing rubber or of being further penalized; go 
to work at once. 

For instance, suppose you have allowed the 
adversaries to pile up some 700 against you in 
penalties; you have each won a game, and the 
rubber-game stands at 24-26. If they are wise, 
they will force that rubber upon you, and you 
are powerless to resist the attack. If it is their 
deal and they open the bidding, you are afraid 
to let them have it because it will give them a 
big rubber against you; you are obliged to bid 
against them, whether safely or unsafely. Then 
if they are real Auction players they will drop 
at once, allowing you to play the hand. And 



Losing Rubbers 91 

you are forced to win your bid and take a losing 
rubber, or to lose your bid and give them a 
still higher penalty column. And if it is your 
opening bid, they will use the same system and 
will refuse to bid against you no matter what 
they hold. 

Don't let matters come to this pass. The 
moment you are heavily penalized turn all your 
efforts toward penalizing the adversary in return ; 
don't try to play the hands — try to set him. Bid 
against him just enough to force him, then sit 
still and defeat him. If you can't do this on 
the first hand, try to do it on the next. And 
keep on trying till it is accomplished! Never 
lose sight of that big penalty against you. 

When you are on the other side of the fence, 
and have just won big penalties, be very care- 
ful to give the adversaries no chance to offset 
them. If you have a perfectly sure bid, make 
it ; but play an absolutely safe game. Never be 
tempted to a shaky bid, even for forcing pur- 
poses (you might get left with it) . If necessary, 
let the adversaries play all the hands ; let them go 
game, and even rubber! You will still take the 
winnings and that, I imagine, is your object. 

If you follow this scheme, they will never be 
able to penalize you except on some chance hand 
when it is your deal and both you and your 



92 Fine Points of Auction 

partner hold hopeless hands; you (being forced 
to bid) say "a spade, " and your partner can 
say nothing. That is the adversaries' chance, 
and (by refraining from bidding) they may get 
back a hundred of their lost points; but, under 
Law 48, they cannot get more. And such 
desperate hands do not occur often. 

If you are playing in absolutely hard luck, 
*t is often better to take the rubber quickly and 
get the 250 as an offset to the penalties. If it 
is to be a sure loss, make it as slight a one as 
possible by ending the rubber while it is young. 
But in the ordinary run of games, use the system 
I have recommended ; avoid taking losing rubbers 
yourself and try to force them upon the adver- 
sary. Make him go rubber while it costs him 
money; if you allow the game to go on, luck may 
turn against you, the adversary may be able to 
penalize you for several hands running, to wipe 
off his losses and to pull out well ahead of you in 
the end. 

Brilliancy versus Solidity 

When I recommend solidity of play, rather 
than brilliancy, let no one misconstrue my mean- 
ing and think that "solidity" means "wooden- 
ness. " An automaton is not an Auction player; 



Brilliancy versus Solidity 93 

you must know all your rules, and you must 
occasionally break them when the occasion 
demands it. Scope must always be given to 
individual judgment and to the exigencies of the 
situation. But, I beg of you, do not make 
erratic brilliancy your lode-star. The thing that 
may seem incredibly subtle and clever to you 
may leave your partner gasping and uncertain. 
Be reliable! Don't go against the established 
standards of the game unless you have a real 
reason! Don't bid on jack-suits and ten-suits 
(on the first round) simply because you want the 
fun of playing the hand, and then say that the 
situation demanded an unusual handling. 

Take my word for it, all the really great players 
are solid, reliable, rock-bottom partners. There 
are few brilliant "coups," few wild flights into 
the unexpected, no erratic arguments. The 
first time you play with them you will probably 
be disappointed at the calmness of their game; 
but it won't take you long to realize what 
absolute rocks of safety they are. 

There is a brilliancy so exaggerated that it 
amounts to unsoundness. A hectic game may 
dazzle at first, but you will not find it attractive 
as a constant companion. 



A Condensed List of Bridge Leads 

Incredible though it may seem, many 
persons are attempting to play Auction without 
a thorough knowledge of tlieir Bridge-leads. I 
therefore append a condensed list of these leads. 

In Any Declared Trump 

(Hearts, diamonds, clubs, or spades) : 

Your best lead is always from two honors 
that touch (ace-king, king-queen, queen- 
jack, or jack- ten), and the higher the honors 
the better the lead. The lead of king, from 
ace-king, is the best in the pack, as it usually 
takes the trick, leaves you in command of the 
suit, and gives your partner a chance to "echo. " 

Holding two honors that do not touch, try 
to let the suit come up to you. 

Holding any three honors your lead is always 
one of those honors. There is no exception to 
this rule in a declared trump; some authorities 
consider ace-king-ten a bad combination, and 

94 



In Any Declared Trvimp 95 

think it unsafe to lead from it ; but I can see no 
objection to the lead of the king. 

Holding no two- or three-honor suit, lead fourth 
best from a single honor (that is not an ace) , or 
lead "short." 

A " short' ' lead is a singleton or a doubleton* 

Rarely lead short when you hold good trumps ; 
keep them to defeat the make instead of ruffing 
with them. And, of course, never lead short 
when you are chicane; there would be no object. 

In leading from a two-card suit, always lead 
the higher card first. This constitutes an 
"echo." 

Never lead fourth best from two honors, or 
three honors; simply from a single honor that 
is not an ace. 

If you lead from an ace-suit, lead the ace 
itself, unless you hold king, as well. Never lead 
low from a suit that is headed by the ace. 

The lead of an ace denies the king, 
unless it is immediately followed by the king, 
when it means "no more of that suit. " Always 
lead ace from every combination that holds it, 
unless you have king as well. 

The lead of a king means the ace, the 
queen, or both. 

The lead of a queen means jack and others, 
and denies the king. 



96 Fine Points of Auction 

The lead of a jack means the top of a 
sequence, or the top of nothing. 

"The lead of the ten means the two 
gentlemen ' ' (king- jack- ten) . Some players 
lead the jack from this combination, but the 
ten is more conservative. The ten may also 
be led from the top of a sequence, or the top of 
nothing. 

All other leads are either fourth-best from a 
single honor, or short. 

In No-Trump 

Your lead is always the fourth-best card of 
your longest suit, unless you hold a seven-card 
suit, or a three-honor suit, in which case you 
may lead high. The single exception to lead- 
ing an honor from a three-honor hand is when 
those honors are ace- jack- ten, or ace-queen- 
ten, and you have no side re-entry. Then your 
lead is fourth-best; but with re-entry, it is ace. 

Holding no decent suit, lead a nine-spot as a 
signal of distress. The nine is always a marked 
card; in a declared trump, it is always a singleton 
or a doubleton ; and in no-trump, it means " don't 
touch that suit." It could rit be fourth-best, 
for, if it were, the three higher cards would 
all be honors, and your lead would be one of 
those honors — not the nine-spot. 



In No-Trump 97 

Holding no good suit and no nine-spot, lead 
the next-to-top card of a long weak suit. The 
rule of eleven will probably show your partner 
how poor your suit is, and keep him from re- 
turning it. 
i 






The Advantages of the New Suit- 
Values 

When Auction first appeared it was played 
with the same suit-values that had been used in 
Bridge; spades were worth 2 a trick, clubs, 4, 
diamonds, 6, hearts, 8, and no-trumps, 12. Of 
course in the old game of Bridge there was no bid- 
ding, so the wide discrepancy in the suit-values 
was no drawback. Then Auction came, and we 
were all so fascinated by the new game that it 
took us some little time to recognize its flaws. 
But the longer we played it the more we realized 
the unfair advantage given to red cards, the im- 
possibility of gambling on black hands, and the ne- 
cessity for pushing the suit-values closer together. 

The New Count was formed to obviate these 
difficulties. It sprang into immediate and univer- 
sal popularity and swept the country like wildfire. 
Even the players who refused it recognition, at 
first, have fallen into line and are using it. 

The new count is not so much a change in 
the game as it is a perfecting of the game. It 
is the perfected result of two years' intelligent 

" trying out" of the game that has come to be 

98 



fHe New S\ait-Val\ies 99 

the most popular card-game of two continents. 

The advantages of the new count are manifold. 
Let me show you some of them: 

It makes a better-balanced game; and, that 
being the case, the bidding becomes sharper and 
keener. The old game was like a see-saw with 
the red end so heavy it was always on the ground, 
and the black end so light it could never weigh 
at all ; and the new game is like the same see-saw 
with a perfect equilibrium established between 
the two ends. The rubbers are apt to be longer 
under the new count, for the same reason that 
a well-balanced see-saw will " teeter" longer than 
one which is too heavy at one end and too light at 
the other. They are longer, but they are better. 

Then the suit- values are but one point apart, 
and that is more vital than you might imagine. 
A bid of two in anything will beat a bid of one in 
anything. Do you see what a difference that 
is going to make? After you have made a bid 
of two, no one can beat it with a bid of one. 
Formerly, a bid of "one no-trump" would 
knock over a bid of "two clubs"; and one is so 
easy to make that it seems rather unfair to 
allow it to outrank two. 

But the most important feature of the new 
count is the way it equalizes the black suits and 
the red. Formerly if your hand held only 



loo Fine Points of Auction 

clubs or spades it might almost as well have 
held nothing, except for an occasional forcing 
bid. The player with the red cards had simply 
a walk-over, and you were pushed to the wall. 
And as exactly half of a pack of cards are clubs 
and spades, it follows that exactly half the bid- 
ding opportunities were lost. With a black 
hand you took a back seat. Now there is no 
back seat for either black hands or red ones. 
The advantage is absolutely poised between 
them. 

Again, the new count equalizes the chances 
of going game in a certain number of tricks. 
Formerly you could go game at no-trump with 
three odd tricks; there was but one suit (and 
that a red one) in which you could go game in 
four odd ; but one suit (and that also a red one) 
in which you could go game in five odd; and no 
black suit in which you could possibly go game in 
the hand, even if you made a grand slam. 

Does that strike you as a particularly well- 
balanced arrangement ? With the revised count, 
no-trump is reserved for the only declaration in 
which you can go game in three odd — and you 
may hold a good no-trumper when the pre- 
ponderance of your hand is red, or when it is 
black, so that the suits are equalized even there. 
Then there are two suits (one red and one black) 



TTHe New S\iit-Val\ies 101 

in both of which you can go game in four odd ; 
and of these two the black is one point higher. 
And there are two suits (one red and one 
black) in which you can go game in five odd; 
and of these two the red is one point higher. 
It is the quintessence of balance. 

Suppose the rubber game stands at 20-24, 
and the play is of the utmost importance to both 
sides. You get wonderful spades and your 
adversary gets wonderful hearts ; your cards are 
as good as his, but under the old count, they 
were the wrong color; he could knock you in 
the head with a bludgeon and walk off- with 
your corpse; by the revised count, you both 
settle down to a keen and fair battle of bidding 
for the play; the advantage is neither for him 
nor for you. In other words, any suit can stand 
on its own feet against any other. 

And lastly, by the new count, no-trump is 
relegated to its proper place; it is the highest 
suit, but by no means the only suit. And, by 
the old count, it was so overwhelming that three- 
fourths of the hands played were no-trump 
hands, and it was rarely possible to make a 
successful suit-bid in any suit, save hearts, 
against a no-trumper. Now, nothing is prettier 
than a well-played suit-hand; and one of the 
beauties of the new game is that your chances 



102 



Fine Points of Auction. 



are equal for playing with a trump or without 
one. No-trump hands are good as all other 
things are good — in the proper place and in 
the proper proportion. 

In three hands, dealt at random and without 
any rearrangement of cards, the increased 
bidding possibilities of the new count show up 
very remarkably. I will give you the hands; 
Z, of course, is the dealer: 

Jf$ J 10 8 6 
10 8 6 5 

*8 



4fcKQ974 

0K9 

4*AQ754 




^ A952 

J(* 52 
J432 
4fcJ62 



^ Q 10 6 3 

<fr A3 
AQ7 

4k K 10 9 3 

Z, naturally, bids "a no-trump"; and, by 
the old count, no one can make a reasonable bid 
against him. "Three clubs" would be an 
absurd bid from A, even with his heart singleton 
and his side ace; nothing could warrant it but 



THe New S\iit- Values 



103 



an effort to save the rubber. So Z gets it, with 
no contest, at "one no-trump." It is the old 
story of the knock-down blow; there is no 
subtlety, no contest, no anything. 

Behold how different under the new count: 
A can cap Z's bid with "two clubs" or "two 
lilies, " just as he sees fit, and if Z wants that bid 
he must work for it. There are infinitely greater 
possibilities of bidding, of forcing, of doubling, 
and of "setting." 

The second hand fell as follows: 



I 
1 


^ K63 
& J975 

10 8 43 
4 K6 




9 A1042 
d|l KQ63 
972 


Y 

A B 

Z 


^85 

Jh 102 

AJ6 

& A J 10 9 8 5 


( 


9 QJ97 
£ A84 

KQ5 

4 Q32 





Z says a "no-trump." 

A and Y go by. 

B is able to bid "two lilies. 



>> 



104 



Fine Points of Auction 



Z, having the lilies stopped, is able to go to 
"two no-trumps, " if he wants to. Should he 
elect to do so, A might double on his partner's 
lilies and his own hearts and clubs; or he might 
fear the diamonds and pass; or he might go to 
"three lilies ,, on his side suits. And Y would 
also have several courses open to him from the 
information he had gleaned. The bidding on 
the second round would differ according to the 
judgment and temperament of the players, but 
the point is that there would be sure to be 
"something doing." The new count would 
make the game active. 

This was the third hand; 





V A83 
i^Q 96542 
OQ64 




^? 10 9 5 2 
4» A 10 7 3 
A97 

VQ9 


Y 

A B 
Z 


♦ KJ8 

Oj 

^ A86432 




* 

0>K 10 8 53$ 

djb K 10 7 5 


5 



THe New S\iit-Val\ies 105 

Z would probably bid "a diamond " because 
he lacks clubs. 

A and Y would go by. 

B would bid " a lily " on his diamond singleton 
and side-suit honors. 

Then, can you not see the infinite possibilities 
of the hand? Z would bid "two diamonds," 
hoping to defeat B if he went to "two lilies." 
Following the "two diamonds" bid, A might 
bid "two lilies" on a trump-honor and twx> side 
aces, or he might venture on "two no-trumps, " 
fortified by the fact that no one had bid hearts 
(so they were probably not banked in one hand), 
and that he held four of them, to the ten, 
himself. Then, there is a possibility of Y 
going to "three diamonds, " on his trump honor, 
his side ace, his side queen, and his spade single- 
ton. The point is, that "three diamonds" 
(21) will beat "two no-trumps" (20), which it 
would never do before. 

Just lay this hand out, imagining yourself 
to be any one of the four players, and see where 
your skill in bidding would have the greater 
scope, in the old count or the new ! 

The three hands just given are simply the 
first three hands that fell at random, but they 
happen to be excellent examples of what I am 
trying to point out. Of course, there will be 



106 Fine Points of Auction 

many hands where the bidding will not vary 
between the two counts ; but there will be many 
more where it will vary exceedingly. 

One thing is certain: now that we have be- 
come accustomed to the new count, the old would 
seem as flat and stale as would a game of 
plain Bridge to an Auction-lover. The old suit- 
values are banished forever! 



A Table of the Trick- and Honor-Values under 

the New Count. 



Each trick over six 

3 honors (simple) 

4 honors, divided 

5 honors, divided 

4 honors, one hand 

4 honors in one hand, 5th 
in partner's 

5 honors, one hand 

Small slam 

Big slam 

Chicane 



CO 

CO 



2 

4 
8 

10 

16 

18 
20 
20 
40 

4 



«o 



6 
12 

24 
30 

48 

54 
60 

20 

40 

12 



to 
O 



7 

14 

28 

35 
56 

63 
70 

20 

40 

14 



us 



8 
16 

32 
40 

64 

72 
80 
20 
40 
16 



o 



9 

18 

36 

45 
72 

81 
90 
20 
40 
18 



o 



10 

30 
40 

100 



20 
40 



107 



Test Hands 



Test Hand No. i 

(Discarding to unblock ; and allowing a suit to 
come to you through a declared stopper.) 



- 


9k 

4k A 643 
<>42 

4k 10 9 8 7 6 3 




£?QJ3 

AQJ965 
4tK4 


Y 

A B 
Z 


ty 10 8 7 6 4 
4k987 
<>10 8 3 

♦ qj 




^A952 
4k K Q J 10 
<>K7 
4 A52 




^Viic ic r\-ne± of f Vi 


£> C1l"hflAQf of 


Ticmn'Q PQnpr 



for A. 

Z bids "a no-trump"; A "two diamonds"; 
Y and B pass. Z's diamond stopper is very 

in 



XX2 Fine Points of Auction 

light, lying, as it does, under the diamond bid; 
on the other side, it would be perfectly safe. 
However, he says "two no-trumps, " as I think 
nearly any one would do in his place. And 
every one else passes. 

Now it lies entirely with A whether or not 
this bid shall go through. As the hand was 
played, A insisted on leading his diamonds 
(against expert advice). He led his Ace, then 
his queen, to clear the suit, insisting that he 
had re-entry in both spades and hearts, and 
would make his diamonds later. And he did; 
but it was so much later, that Z had made what 
he bid. 

For the hand hinges entirely on Z's taking, or 
not taking, with the king of diamonds. He has 
exactly eight tricks in the two hands, allowing 
one for the diamond king, — four club tricks, 
two heart tricks, the ace of spades, and the king 
of diamonds. Failing one of those tricks, the 
bid will not go through. 

Always remember that "if a stopper lies under 
the bid, and is not the ace, it should be led 
through — never up to." Z's bid of "two no- 
trumps" declares a diamond stopper; from A's 
hand, that stopper is shown to be the king — 
and the king in a very perilous position. It 
should be A's sole care to throw B in, that he 



Test Hand No. 1 113 

may lead the diamonds through Z; and it 
should be Z's sole care to keep B from taking a 
single trick. He does not care how many 
tricks A takes, for A will have to lead up to him ; 
but he simply cannot afford to let B in, to lead 
the diamonds through his king. 

A should lead "the highest of his own weak- 
est suit" — the five of clubs. Z takes this with 
Dummy's ace, so that he may lead his long suit 
(spades) through B. If he should lead spades 
from his own hand up to Dummy's ten, B might 
come in with the jack, the queen, or the king 
(if he held them), and lead diamonds through 
Z — and then the fat would be in the fire. 

So the first club round goes to Y's ace. Y leads 
the 6 of spades, B plays the jack, and Z the ace; 
and (here comes the crux), A must throw his 
king on that ace! For had Z held the queen 
of spades, he would, certainly have finessed it, 
not being afraid to let A in. As Z does n't 
hold it, B must; therefore A must throw away 
his king, in order to unblock and give B a 
spade re-entry. If A comes in on hearts, he 
must lead his four of spades; B will take with 
the queen and lead his ten of diamonds, and 
their object will be accomplished. 

Should Z elect to open hearts instead of spades, 
A must follow the same principle — he must 

8 



H4 Fine Points of Auction 

keep a small one to try to throw his partner in. 
A has two objects — to get out of B's way in 
every suit but diamonds, and never to take a 
trick until the diamonds are led to him from one 
of the other three hands. It would be very 
unusual for Z to make his hearts before he took 
a try at his long spades. But suppose he should ! 
He can still be defeated. 

When Z takes the first club round with 
Dummy's ace, he may lead his king of hearts. 
Then A must throw his jack. Z will then get 
into his own hand with the clubs and make all 
the clubs he holds. If he next leads the ace of 
hearts, let A be sure to throw his queen to try to 
unblock hearts for B's re-entry. He knows that 
B must hold some suit with more than three 
cards in it. It has been shown that B's length 
is not in clubs; A's hand will prove that B's 
suit is not diamonds; Dummy's long line of 
spades will make it improbable that B holds 
many of them, — and hearts are thus marked as a 
long weak suit in B's hand. 

Thus, if A opens the diamonds, Z wins out. 
If he allows the diamonds to come to him, Z is 
defeated. Never forget that if a stopper lies 
under the bid, and is not the ace, you should 
never lead up to it, but always through 
it. 



Test Hand No. 2 



"5 



Of course in many hands the situation would 
not be so ideal for A; Z's king of diamonds, 
for instance, might be better guarded; or B 
might not have so many diamonds with which 
to lead through the stopper. But even so, A 
loses nothing by letting the diamonds come up 
to him. I have seen hundreds of hands played 
and I have never seen one where a point was lost 
by waiting to have a stopper led through; and in 
an overwhelming majority of cases, much has been 
gained by the method! 

Test Hand No. 2 



(A thoroughly bad raise.) 



9643 




- 


•|k 109 






< 


A108642 




< 


<*Q10 






<$ A K 10 5 2 


Y 




9Q7 


d|bJ75 






4» AK6432 





A 


B 


03 


4kK9763 


z 




4k AJ84 


1 


J?J98 






1 


*Q8 






i 


£ KQ J975 




( 


4* 52 







n6 Fine Points of Auction 

Z bid "a diamond" on this hand, which was 
an obviously correct bid. A covered with "a 
heart," and Y made an incorrect raise to "two 
diamonds.'' Y has not a raiser in his hand! 
To raise your partner, you must have two tricks 
(a "trick" and a "raiser") and they must lie 
in different suits. Y has a "trick" (his ace of 
trumps) and his ten of trumps would be a "rai- 
ser," except that it lies in the same suit. There 
is not an outside trick in Y's hand, — not an ace, 
a king, a singleton, or a missing-suit, and he 
cannot raise his partner on trumps alone! His 
trumps and his partner's trumps will all fall to- 
gether. The adversaries will lead, and they will 
not lead trumps. Y will lose seven suit-tricks 
before he can ever come in. 

Players in Y's position will often argue that 
they can trump in with those long trumps. 
On what suit could Y trump? Not hearts, not 
clubs, and not spades, — because he has some of 
each suit. 

Z-Y hold twelve out of thirteen diamonds, 
yet they cannot possibly take the odd trick. 
Y's raise, on trumps alone, was extremely bad! 

Test Hand No. 3 

(If the adversary makes a bid that suits you, 
try to force him to two in the same suit by mak- 



Test Hand No. 3 



117 



ing a side-bid. If you can't 
Don't double a bid of one.) 


do this, sit still. 


1 
i 


^ AQ943 

fr J 10 9 2 

ft AQ 




9872 

* 

AQ10832 

46532 


Y 

A B 

Z 


9 K J 10 6 

f AKQ765 

Oj 

4*K4 



95 

♦ 843 
9764 
4 J 10 9 8 7 

Z bids "a spade." A may or may not bid 
his diamonds ; the rest of his hand is trash, and 
it is a good thing to leave the adversary in a 
"one spade" hole. However, A has six dia- 
monds to three honors and a missing suit, and 
most players would prefer to bid. Whether 
he bids or not, Y will. He may bid u a heart," 
or a "no-trump " ; his short suits would make the 
heart look better, besides which, it takes a 
better hand than usual to bid no-trump when 
your partner has said "a spade." 

If Y says "a heart," the bid will just suit B, 
who must " boost " the heart bid. Most players 



n8 



Fine Points of Auction 



would do this with "two clubs"; I should do 
it with "two diamonds"; B has an honor in his 
partner's suit (even though it is a singleton), 
a splendid side-suit of clubs, and two guarded 
kings, one of which is shown to be safe by Y's 
heart bid. If Y goes to "two hearts," B can 
beat him badly; but B must n't double for 
fear he will frighten the adversary to a bid that 
is less desirable. Where would he be if Z should 
jump to "two royals, " on his five trumps to two 
honors, and his singleton in his partner's suit? 





Test Hand No. 4 


(Double, 


rather than bid, in 
a rubber.) 


the beginning of 






£?K87 
fl|i AQ10 

Oak 






1094 


1 


J|k A Q 10 9 3 




9 AQJ 

<>Q53 
4fcK85 




Y 

A B 
Z 


$5 

4k J9865 

972 

4* J764 




< 


$632 
JfrK743 








J 10 8 6 4 




Score : 


Lc 


»ve-all on a i 


lew rubber. 



Test Hand No. 4 "9 

Z bids "a spade"; A "a heart"; Y "a 
royal"; and B passes. Z passes. A bids 
"two hearts" and Y doubles him and makes 200. 
He counts one trick for his trump king (lying 
on the safe side of the heart bid) ; 2 tricks in 
diamonds and a possible diamond ruff (for he 
leads ace, then king, to show no more) ; and one 
trick for each of his black aces. His book 
being five, that will give him the odd. Instead 
of a diamond ruff, he may get a spade ruff in 
Z's hand. For after two diamond leads, Y, 
wishing to throw Z in (so as to get a diamond 
ruff), leads the ten of clubs through Dummy's 
greatest strength. Z takes with his king, and 
instead of leading a diamond he may choose 
to lead his spade singleton. The result is the 
same, whichever way it is played. 

If Y had bid "two royals" he would have 
scored 27 points and 18 honors, against the 
best defence, — a total of 35 points. By doub- 
ling the hearts, he scores 200, with less 
work. 

Would you rather work like a slave for thirty- 
five cents, or have some one make you a present of 
two dollars? 

If Z-Y had been three or more on the rubber- 
game, Y would have preferred to bid and take 
the rubber. 



120 



Fine Points of Auction 



Test Hand No. 5 

(The most remarkable hand I have ever 

seen dealt.) 



( 


P J 92^ 
4k 10 8 5 3 2 



4k K Q 10 7 3 




ty K654 
4k AQ 

<> KQ98753 

* — 


Y 
A B 

Z 


ty 873 
4k KJ97 

— 

4b AJ8642 


i 

1 


£? AQ10 
4k 64 

A J 10 6 4 
4 95 


2 



This is one of the most remarkable hands 1 
have ever known. After seeing it occur in 
actual play, I was so struck with it that I went 
home and spent a couple of hours playing it in 
every conceivable way. Then, wanting the 
opinion of more minds than one, I collected 
three of the best players I have ever known, 
and we four spent another hour over it. 

Of course, it is necessary to allow scope for 



Test Hand No. 3 121 

individual judgment in the bid, after certain 
fixed laws have been observed! But there were 
two points in this hand that we all agreed in 
branding as incorrect. The first was any 
possible doubling of bids of one, and the second 
was any thought of no-trump bids. No-trumps 
are very bad with lacking suits. The only 
player who could possibly consider no-trump is 
Z, after he has discovered his partner's spades; 
and Z is never in the position where he will be 
tempted to it. 

Z opens with "a diamond." There could be 
no two opinions about that. 

A should pass unless "two diamonds' ' would 
put him rubber, in which case he should bid 
them. Unless he is at least 16 on the rubber 
game, he should pass and let Z play it. If A 
can take two odd in diamonds, they will be 
worth 14 under his own bid, and 100 if he lets 
Z play it. 

A should positively not double a one-bid. 
He runs the risk of frightening the adversary to 
royals, which would not suit him at all. " When 
the bid suits you, say nothing, — unless you 
are prepared to double again, no matter where 
the adversary jumps." 

If Z is left with the "one diamond" bid, Y 
must positively say "one royal," because he 



122 Fine Points ef Auction 

lacks his partner's suit, and has a very good one 
of his own. 

B should keep silent after Y's bid, on exactly 
the same principle that A should keep silent 
after Z's. 

Z passing, A would probably bid "two dia- 
monds." He sits on the safe side of the adver- 
sary who bid them, and he can ruff the other 
adversary's suit. 

Up to this point, I do not see room for any 
question as to bid or pass. But I do consider 
it open to discussion whether or not Y shall bid 
"two royals" (provided he has heard no bid 
from B). 

If he does, B will double. And then arises 
the only possible no-trump question: shall Z 
bid "two no-trumps" when he sees his partner 
doubled? 

I think it unwarranted; his diamonds are not 
in sequence, and he knows a strong diamond 
hand lies over him; he knows nothing of clubs, 
his spades are wretched, and his hearts should 
be led to. 

A no-trump bid from A should never be 
considered. He lacks his partner's suit, so 
that B's spades would be useless; he doesn't 
want to lead diamonds up to Z; his clubs are 
terribly short (length is strength in no-trump), 



Test Hand No. 5 123 

and no one could call his hearts good. Short 
suits and missing suits are terrible at no-trump, 
and A has both. 

As far as results go, if Z plays "one diamond, " 
A-B score 100 (2 tricks undoubled) — provided 
A leads his short suit instead of a heart. With 
a heart-lead, Z will make three heart rounds. 
But if A leads ace of clubs and follows with the 
queen, and if, whenever he comes in, he leads a 
trump from his sequence, he defeats Z to the 
tune of 100. If A plays it at diamonds, he 
makes 2 odd (14) against the best possible 
defence. If A doubles diamonds and frightens 
Y to royals, and if B is wise enough to sit still 
and let him play it, A-B make 100. And this 
is more luck than A had any right to expect. 
If B says " two royals, " he cannot make it against 
the best defence. 

If B doubles a " royal, " and Z tries no-trump, 
he can take six tricks, and reduce his loss from 
100 to 50. 

And if A plays "one no- trump," he can take 
the odd, — 10 points. 

This all shows that A-B hold the winning 
combination, no matter how the hand is played 
(except at "two royals"). It lies with them 
whether they will take 10 points, 14 points, 50 
points, or 100 points. Which would you choose? 



124 



Fine Points of Auction 



Test Hand No. 6 

(An example of poor bidding.) 

0876 

Jffc AQ J9763 



^?KQJ1076543 




Y 




9 




4*92 
04 


A 




B 


* 




K J54 
A K 10 5 3 


♦ * 




Z 




* 


K10 8 5 



djk A Q 10 8 7 6 
OQJ92 

Z opened with "a club," A said "a heart," 
Y "a royal," and B made the terrible mistake 
of saying "a no-trump." He insisted that his 
partner had the hearts and he had "everything 
else." (This is the commonest of errors.) 

Suppose A had the hearts, — how was B going 
to use them? What assistance would they be to 
him, if he could n't use them? And how many 
tricks could he take without those hearts? 

It was a comfort to B, doubtless, to know that 
the hearts were not established against him. 



Test Hand No. 6 125 

But that was not enough. B's own hand prom- 
ised about four tricks and was distinctly a hand 
that should have been led to; he held an ex- 
tremely unsafe combination of clubs, lying on 
the wrong side of the bid ; there was every reason 
to suppose that the queen of diamonds might 
be guarded against him; and while his spades 
lay on the safe side of the bid, he could take but 
two tricks in them if they were led to him twice, 
and but one if he had to lead them himself, — 
up to declared strength. 

The moment the first lead was out, and 
Dummy was exposed, the adversaries would 
refuse to lead hearts. They would n't lead them, 
and B could n't. 

In order to make A's hearts available, A 
would have to hold side re-entry. And what re- 
entry had B a right to expect from A? The 
bidding had shown that the high clubs were 
divided between Z and B, and the high spades 
between Y and B; B, himself, held three high 
diamonds. B's no-trump presupposed abso- 
lutely that the queen of diamonds must lie 
with A, and that A's hearts must be entirely 
established and must clear in one round. 

B should certainly have passed, or have bid 
"two hearts" on his side-suits. If A had the 
trumps, and B the side-suits, it would make an 



126 Fine Points of Auction 

ideal combination ; and every time A led trumps, 
he would pull two for one. 

Again, why bid no-trumps when hearts are 
"good enough for any one"? It takes but one 
more trick to go game in hearts, and B's hand 
should certainly supply that extra trick. 

B, however, insisted on his no-trump. Z 
passed, and A properly overcalled with "two 
hearts"; that should have warned B to let him 
alone. 

Y said " two royals " and B should have passed. 
He had a chance of defeating the bid, and the 
absolute certainty (from his own hand) that 
Y could not hold any wonderful honors, and 
could not "go game in the hand." (It was the 
first hand of the rubber, so Y would need four- 
odd for game.) 

This B, however, loved his no-trump and bid 
"two." 

Z passed and A began to see what he had 
ahead of him; nevertheless, he went bravely 
back to his "three hearts." 

By this time, Y also had realized B's weakness, 
so he said "three royals" and was rewarded by 
hearing B's answering "three no-trumps." 

A determined to make one more effort, on 
account of his 64 honors, — though he saw defeat 
staring him in the face. He said "four hearts," 



Test Hand No. €> 



127 



Y continued to force with "four royals," and 
B never even looked to see if he could defeat 
the bid ! He was one of those players who can 
see no points except those below the line. He 
" played for game," always and exclusively, — and 
his idea of game was a no-trump bid. He had 
decided by this time that A had all the hearts 
and that he himself held tricks and stoppers in 
all the other suits, — and that he would "get 
into A's hand somehow" \ He bid his "four no- 
trumps M and every one gasped and passed. 
Did you ever meet a man like B? 

Test Hand No. 7 

(Two good hands, bidding against each other.) 

ty 10 9 8 7 6 5 

dfr?42 
05 



4*987 



* 



KJ10987643 

4kK43 




£> J432 
4k K 10 8 6 3 

— 

4 Q 10 6 5 



9kq 

4kAQ J95 

A Q2 

4fcAJ2 



128 



Fine Points of Auction 



A bids diamonds against Z's no-trumps. A 
can afford to bid " three diamonds'" and make 
them against Z's possible double. If Z bids up 
high in no-trumps, A can double and defeat 
him. 

"Position" is against Z; he has a good no- 
trumper, but his diamonds lie under A's, and it 
is impossible to get into Dummy to make the 
hearts or to lead clubs through B. 

A hand like Dummy's (Y's) would seriously 
hamper the best of no-trumpers. 

Test Hand No. 8 

(It is better to raise your partner's heart-bid on 
side-suit, or a ruff, than on trumps alone.) 

4kAQJ932 

o_ 

4 AKJ63 



4t 10 6 

OQ3 

4*97543 





Y 




A 


Z 


B 



9K7 

cfrK4 

£> A J 109764 

4*108 



£?AQ1098 

4^875 
OK852 



Test Hand No. 8 129 



Z, "a heart." 

A, "By." 
Y, "By." 

B, "two diamonds." 
Z, "two hearts. : 

A, "By. ! 
Y, "By. ! 

B, "three diamonds. 



Lear us. ' 
n 

n 



19 



Now Z will not go to "three hearts," even 
with his singleton spade, for he has no knowledge 
of the whereabouts of the good black cards. 
The diamond bid is not displeasing to him, but 
he will not double because of his ignorance of 
the black suits and his fear of frightening B to 
no-trump. So he passes, A passes, and Y says 
three hearts, with only the deuce and trey in his hand. 

To an amateur, this would seem preposterous. 
But, as a matter of fact, Y has raised his part- 
ner's bid only one trick, and there is no reason 
in the world why both these little trumps should 
not take tricks — by ruffing diamonds. Y holds 
a very strong hand to assist a heart make; 
much stronger, in fact, than if he held a long 
line of trumps and no side-suit or ruff. 

His lack of diamonds is his best point, and his 
spades and clubs are splendid. 

A is in the lead and naturally leads to frs 
partner's bid — the queen of diamonds. Z 



130 



Fine Points of Auction 



trumps in Dummy and gets into his own hand 
by leading a small spade up to the queen. He 
leads a small diamond and trumps in Dummy. 
Then the ace and king of spades. If B trumps 
spades, Z will over-trump him. He will then 
lead a small club up to Dummy's ace (avoiding 
the finesse), and lead spades again through B. 

If B refuses to trump the spades, Z will con- 
tinue to lead them, and will discard his own 
losing clubs on them. 

" It is better to raise your partner's heart-bid on 
side-suit, a short suit, or a ruff, than on hearts alone. ' ' 

Test Hand No. 9 

(The importance of holding re-entry in your 

partner's suit.) 

4iAK92 

— 
4k AJ985 



^?AQ972 




Y 




tyjQ 


4k Q J 10 


A 




•R 


4^8764 


<>J754 


JX 




*J 


<>10 8 6 


♦ 10 




Z 




4&KQ74 



^?10 5 

«fr53 

AKQ932 

4632 



Test Hand No, 9 131 

Z, "a diamond" 
A, "a heart" 

Now Y stops hearts, and has some excellent 
black cards and may easily consider that he 
has a no-trumper. Let him remember that his 
lack of re-entry in his partner's suit is a serious 
obstacle. With a stronger hand, he would not 
need his partner's diamond tricks; it would be 
sufficient for him to know that diamonds were 
not established against him. 

But Y's hand is far from strong; there is no 
long, established suit in it. He will certainly 
need his partner's diamond tricks, and he cannot 
get them unless Z holds side re-entry. It is 
improbable that he would hold heart re-entry, 
with a heart-bid from A, and four hearts to the 
king in Y's own hand. And with four black 
face cards in Y's hand it may easily happen that 
Z would not hold re-entry in either of the black 
suits. 

If Y should bid "a no- trump" and B should 
pass, Z should certainly go back to "two dia- 
monds," because his diamonds are good enough 
to warrant it, and his side-suits are wretched. 

If Z, however, had made a weak diamond bid 
(if he had held, for instance, ace- jack and two 
little spots), there would be no reason for him 



132 Fine Points of Auction 

to go back to " two diamonds/ ' and thus make an 
unsound bid. For aught he knows, his partner's 
no-trump bid is perfectly safe, and it has not 
been capped. Why, then, should Z take a 
contract of two because he fears he is too weak 
to make one? If it cost any less to be defeated 
in diamonds than in no-trump, the bid would 
be excusable; but it costs just the same — fifty 
a trick. Moreover, a bid of two is far more apt 
to be doubled than a bid of one. 

Had Z made a weak bid, therefore, he should 
not go back to "two diamonds." But in the 
present hand, his diamonds are excellent and he 
should certainly cover his partner's possible 
"one no-trump" with "two diamonds." 

If A should cover this bid with a bid of "two 
hearts" (tempted by his spade singleton), 
Y would be much wiser to double than to bid 
"two no-trumps." He has four sure tricks in 
his hand and his lack of his partner's suit is an 
advantage; he may get a ruff. 

Should Y double the "two hearts," he would 
make 300. Should he bid "two no-trumps," 
he would lose 100 (provided he had been 
doubled) — a total difference of 400 points! 



Test Hand No. lO 



133 



Test Hand No. 10 

(An unsound bid and its consequences.) 

^ AK73 
4k A 10 8 

64 

4k A 10 8 4 



^6 

JjkKQ J963 
AKQ 
4kKQ2 




^? Q 10 9 8 5 

4b 5 

<>10 

4k J97643 



The score was 10-0 on the rubber-game in 
favor of A-B and each side was very anxious to 
get the bid in a suit that would put them rubber. 

Z made a prohibited bid of "a diamond,' ' on 
a jack-suit. He did n't want to say " a spade, " 
without a spade in his hand. 

"A spade" was Z's proper bid. It would 
not show good spades ; holding those, he would 
bid "a royal." "A spade" would mean that 
Z had a poor hand, — and that was the exact truth. 
When he bid "a diamond," he announced "a 
playable suit headed by the ace, the king, or (at 



134 



Fine Points of Auction 



a pinch) the queen.' ' And that, he did not hold. 

A bid " two clubs/ ' 

Y should have raised his partner's diamonds 
on side-suit. But he thought there was a better 
chance of going rubber in no-trumps than in dia- 
monds. He held the ace of the adversary's suit, 
two other aces, and a king; his partner had an- 
nounced a diamond-suit, and he himself held two 
diamonds to lead. So he said " two no-trumps." 

This spelled ruin, of course. And if Z went 
back to " three diamonds," he could not make 
it. He could have made it, had his suit been 
headed by the ace, the king, or the queen. 

Test Hand No. n 

(When not to lead the highest of your partner's 

suit.) 

9*732 
£52 

OA953 
4 Q J 10 5 



^AK5 




Y 




9 


Q84 


JfrKQ93 
OQ87 


A 




B 


* 




J 10876 


4 AK9 




Z 




* 


87643 



9 J 10 9 6 

♦ A 4 

K J 10 6 4 2 



Test Hand No. 11 135 

Z, "a diamond/ ' 

A, "a no-trump/ ' 

Y, "by" (he has no raiser). 

B should now bid "two clubs" to warn his 
partner away from a fatal no-trump. 

If Z should say "two diamonds" (as I am 
sure he should), and if A should say "two no- 
trumps" (as I am sure he shouldn't, after B's 
warning-note), Y will be in the lead. 

This is one of the positions where Y should 
not lead the highest of his partner's suit. A is 
marked with a diamond stopper ; it may be queen 
or king. Z's bid of "two diamonds" would 
make it probable that A's stopper was the queen. 
And Y wants that queen with his ace, so he 
must not lead up to it. 

He leads the highest of his weakest black suit 
and Z comes in with the ace. Y's refusal to 
lead diamonds up to the stopper marks him with 
the ace; so Z promptly leads his ten through 
the stopper, and A is badly set. 



136 



Fine Points of Auction 



Test Hand No. 12 

(Better to double than to bid.) 





S?J42 
Jfr974 
J9 
4*87632 




9A6 

4kA6 

AKQ833 

<jjkKJ 10 


Y 

A B 

Z 


^987 

4kKJ832 
<> 10 7 5 

4>Q5 


< 


^?KQ10 53 
4k Q 10 5 
064 
4kA94 


' 



A, "two diamonds. ,, 

YandB "pass." 

Z has not a two-heart hand, lacking a raise 
from his partner. The general run of players 
would neglect to count the seven losing cards 
and would see only five hearts to three honors, 
a side ace and a side queen. On this they would 
bid "two heart s." 

Now, unless the play of the hand would put 
him rubber, A should double the "two hearts' 
rather than bid against it. He has five almost 
sure tricks in his hand, and a possible sixth. 



Test Hand No. 13 



137 



One trick from his partner is all that he asks. 

If A doubles the hearts, he and his partner 
make 200. It would take 20 odd tricks in no- 
trump to give them 200. 

Test Hand No. 13 

(How much less safe a stopper is, when it is 
not a "sequence stopper. ") 

<> Q 9 8 3 
4k J8532 



9975 

4> A Q 10 7 6 3 

07 

47 64 


Y 

A 

Z 


B 


9QJ10 

£852 

OA642 

^KQIO 



^AK86 
4kKJ9 

K J 10 5 

4 A 9 

Z, "a no-trump/ ' 

A, "two clubs. " 

YandB, "By." 

Z (feeling he has the clubs stopped), 

"two no-trumps. " 
And every one passes. 



138 Fine Points of .A/uction 

A leads the highest of his weakest suit, the 
seven of diamonds. B comes in with the ace, 
because he knows his partner wants the clubs 
through the stopper. He leads his highest club ; 
Z covers and A takes. A tries to throw his 
partner in by leading spades through Dummy's 
strength. Z takes that round, but is eventually 
"set" in his bid. 

Had Z held a sequence-stopper, such as: 

«& j 10 9 4 

it would not have looked as strong, but it would 
have been a sure stopper, whether led up to or 
through, and regardless of the position of the 
other clubs. 

This hand is another proof of the wisdom of 
not leading up to a declared stopper (other than 
the ace) that lies under the bid. I lay constant 
stress upon this point, because it is one on which 
I differ from one or two of the recognized 
authorities who insist that you should lead your 
suit, no matter where its stopper lies. 

I have seen hundreds of Auction-hands 
played, and I have yet to see one where a trick 
was lost by allowing a suit to come up to you 
through a declared stopper (other than the 
ace). And I have seen scores where many 
tricks were won and bids defeated by following 
this method. 



Test Hand No. 14 



139 



In this hand, had A led clubs, Z would have 
taken two club rounds and made his bid. 

Test Hand No. 14 

(Second hand should not bid unless he has a 
real reason for so doing.) 





V>KQ94 

♦ aqj 

AQJ8 
4>KQ 




^863 

Ok 10 54 

4*764 


Y 

A B 

Z 


£)AJ10 

♦ 7654 
032 

^ J952 



£)753 
4fcK93 
<>976 
£ A 10 8 3 

Z, "a spade/' 

A belonged to that unfortunate class who 
consider that they must always "give some 
information* ' to their partner. So he bid "a 
diamond' ' to show an honor. Y could hardly 
believe his ears; he wouldn't double for two 
reasons: first, because a bid of one is easy to 
make — for aught he knew, A might hold nine 



140 Fine Points of Auction 

diamonds and ruff his suits, and second, for fear 
B should jump to "a lily. " (B couldn't bid 
"a lily," but Y did n't know that.) Y did n't 
" boost" for fear A might refuse to be boosted. 
He simply sat still and congratulated himself. 
So every one passed. 

Y led his king of spades and followed with his 
queen. Then, reading the ace in his partner's 
hand and also wanting trumps to come to him, 
he tried to throw Z in with the club (hearts 
would not do with the ace on the board and the 
king-queen in Y's own hand). 

Y led ace of clubs and Z played nine — an 
encouragement card. Y led the queen and Z 
took with his king, made his ace of spades, and 
led trumps up to Dummy's weakness. 

Z-Y made 400 points — much more than a 
rubber is worth. 

If A had passed, Y would have bid no-trump 
and made four-odd — 40 points instead of 400. 

The point is this : A-B stood to lose on such 
a hand as that, but they could not possibly lose 
as much by letting the adversary play it as by 
playing it themselves. Never forget that, if you 
must lose, it is much less expensive to lose on the 
adversary's declaration than on yotir own. And : 

There is no excuse for a bid from second hand, 
unless he has a real reason for bidding. The 



Test Hand No. 13 



141 



beauty of the motto, " speech is silver, but silence 
is golden, " is nowhere made more apparent than 
at an Auction-table, after the opening bid has 
been made ! 



Test Hand Nc 


>• 15 


(Too much information is often given in the 


exaction of penalties.) 


9^4 




4kKQ53 




OKQ82 




( 


£ AQ7 




£?QJ5 


Y 


^?A 10 9 87 3 


4»92 


A B 


♦ A6 


<> A J 10 6 3 




0>54 


4 J 10 9 


Z 


^543 


i 


?62 




dfr J 10874 




<>97 




< 


JkK862 





As this hand was played, Z bid "a spade," and 
A "a diamond, " because he and his partner had 
24 on the game and he wanted to go out. With 
a clean score, he might possibly not have taken 
Z out of a "one spade" bid. 

Y bid "a no-trump." 



142 Fine Points of Auction 

B, " two diamonds," to the score and on his 
two aces. His hearts are rather scattered for a 
"two heart" bid. 

Y, "two no-trumps,' ' and every one else 
passed. 

A carelessly led. It was his partner's lead, 
not his, and Y immediately called suit, demand- 
ing that B lead a heart. B led a small heart, 
A played jack, and Y took with the king. 
Both adversaries knew immediately, from their 
own hands, that he held king with one small 
in hearts and was afraid of being led through, 
and from this information they were able to 
defeat him. Y (not daring to try any finesses 
with the hearts established against him) made 
his spades; they were obvious, but short. Then 
he was forced to lead clubs and B put up his 
ace on the first round. Failing Y's heart-call, 
B's natural lead would have been a diamond to 
A's bid; his own hearts are rather a poor suit to 
lead from, and not knowing his partner's hand 
he would have led the diamond and have let the 
hearts come to him. But Y's foolish suit-call 
had exposed his weakness; B led ace of hearts 
and A threw his queen to unblock. They took 
five heart-rounds, the ace of clubs, and the ace 
of diamonds, thus setting Y badly. 

Y should have called a spade, taken with his 



Test Hand No. 15 143 

queen, and started on his clubs at once. When 
B came in with the ace, he would have led a 
diamond to his partner's bid. If A failed to 
take the first round, Y would have gone game 
at once. If A took the first round and led 
diamonds again, Y would have gone game with 
equal ease. The only way he could have been 
defeated would have been by A's taking the 
first diamond round and leading his queen of 
hearts; and that would have been a most im- 
probable thing for him to do, not knowing how 
the hearts were distributed. It is a possibility 
hardly worth considering; but, even had it 
occurred, Y would have lost but one more trick 
than he did by calling suit; and he ran a chance 
of going game in place of being set. 

Don't call a lead up to a king and one small, 
unless you are willing that every one shall know 
what you hold. It was eminently right and fair 
that Y should call a suit; A had exposed one of 
his cards to his partner which he should not have 
done. Y was right to equalize this by calling 
a lead; but he should not have shown his own 
weakness. 



144 



Fine Points of Auction 



Test Hand No. 16 

(When to bid and when to pass.) 



1 


9 872 
& J765 
<> J53 
$ J76 




£? AK10 
4k Q 10 3 
K72 
4 K Q 10 2 


Y 

A B 
Z 


^? QJ3 
4^ AK8 
AQ6 
4 9543 


i 


^ 9654 
fr 942 




i 
i 


6 10 9 84 
$ A8 





The bidding of this hand caused a great deal of 
discussion. 

It was the first hand of a new rubber, and 
everything hinges on that fact. Z bid "a 
spade, " and A was determined to declare his 
no-trump. Had it been toward the close of a 
iubber, or had either side been one game in, 
the no-trump declaration would have been right 
beyond question. But in the beginning of a 
rubber you should strive to score penalties on 



Test Hand No, 16 145 

the adversary, not to play the hands yourself. 
11 Don't declare a no-trump against a one-spade 
bid, in the beginning of a rubber." 

If A held a wonderful red suit, he would 
certainly declare it, for it wouldn't defeat "a 
spade. " But such an assortment of aces, 
kings, and queens as A holds cannot fail to 
defeat "a spade' ' to the tune of 100 points. 
One hundred points are as much as ten no- 
trump tricks are worth — more than a no-trump 
grand slam. Z has declared his weakness, and 
A should certainly pass, in the hope of defeating 
him. If Y should make any declaration (he 
might hold the remaining good cards), A has 
another chance to cap Y's bid. If Y passes, 
showing two poor hands in partnership, B 
should certainly pass (unless he held a phenome- 
nal red suit, or a hundred aces). Z and Y are 
in a hole; they would much rather lose on the 
adversary's declaration than on their own; but 
it is the place of A-B to see that they lose on 
their own. 

It is true that "the loss at a one-spade bid is 
limited to 100 points." But is n't 100 enough? 
You would feel very happy to score 100 in 
playing a hand yourself; why, then, despise it 
because it is a present from the adversary? Be 
thankful, and take it as often as you can get it. 



10 



146 Fine Points of -A/uction 

Another point of objection from amateurs is 
that you "lose the fun of playing your no-trump 
hand. " If you think the fun is worth a dollar, 
play it by all means. 

I am very sure that any practised Auction vet- 
eran will agree with me on this point. Lay up all 
the nest eggs you can, in the shape of penalties, 
while the rubber is young. Then get the play 
of the hands towards its end, and you will have 
a nice "fat" rubber! Or, \f you cannot get the 
play of the hands at the end, your penalties 
will wipe off all the adversaries' winnings. 

It is, of course, perfectly obvious that, in this 
particular hand, A-B could make a small slam 
by declaring no-trumps, and could thus score 
ten more points than by passing the " one 
spade." But that would presuppose that they 
could see each other's hands, which they could 
not. If one could play results, one could always 
win out. As a matter of fact, A has but six 
no-trump tricks in his hand, and he has an 
absolute certainty of defeating the "one spade." 
To defeat that by one trick is worth 50; by two, 
100. That would be equal to five odd, or ten 
odd, in no-trump; and A has no reason to expect 
such results from his hand. And when it comes 
to B, he has but five tricks in his hand, yet he 
too has a fair chance of defeating the spade 



Test Hand No. lb 147 

because he knows that both of his adversaries are 
weak. 

Although, in this instance, A-B lost ten points 
by passing, in nine cases out of ten they would 
make by passing. And rules are formed to cover 
the majority of situations. I am sure I need not 
tell you that faulty theories will sometimes 
bring in bigger results than sound theories — ■ 
sometimes but not generally. 

I do not fail to recognize that 30 points below 
the line are an advantage. But I insist that 
short, tight, sure rubbers, where there are no 
penalties, are always low rubbers. Your great 
chance, in Auction, is penalizing the adversary; 
and when you are playing against the best 
players you must grasp these chances when they 
come. Good players give you very few chances 
to double unsound bids and to pile up the 
hundreds by fours and fives. The average 
indifference toward seizing small penalties, and 
also toward losing small penalties, is one of the 
weak points of the average game. 



Compass Auction, Team Auction, and 
Tournament Auction 

So many inquiries about Auction tournaments 
have come to me that I have decided to devote 
a chapter to this fascinating subject. I will 
begin with Compass Auction, which is the 
groundwork of the entire structure. 

Compass Auction is played with duplicate- 
boards, by eight players at two tables. During 
each hand, the board lies in the centre of each 
table with its star to the North, and its index 
pointing to the Dealer — not to the Leader as it 
used to do in duplicate Whist. 

Each person plays his cards in front of him 
instead of onto the centre of the table, which, 
of course, is occupied by the board. Thus, at 
the close of each hand, the cards lie in four 
distinct piles in front of their owners, and are 
ready to be placed in their respective pockets. 

The players are known as North, South, East, 
and West; North plays with South, and East 

148 



Compass -A/uction 149 

with West, and it is necessary to have the tables 
so placed that the players actually sit in their 
relative positions. Thus confusion is avoided. 

No hands are arranged before the game 
begins. The first time that a board appears, 
it may hold the cards, for convenience. But 
those cards are taken out, shuffled, cut, and dealt. 
After the hand has been played, the cards of 
each player are placed in the pocket that faces 
him; and when that board appears at the next 
table, the hands are taken out separately, and 
played without further mixing or shuffling. 

The hands pass from table to table and are 
never played twice by the same persons, even 
in a different position. This is an enormous 
improvement over the old game of duplicate 
Whist where each hand appeared a second time 
before the same players. It is impossible not 
to remember unusual hands, and difficult not 
to take unconscious advantage of one's memory. 

In Compass Auction, each person is really 
playing against the person who occupies the 
same relative position at the other table. North, 
at each table, is actually playing with South, 
against the defence of East and West. But 
what he is trying to do is to defeat North at 
the other table; they are going to play exactly 
the same hands; the thing is, to see which of 



150 Fine Points of Auction 

them can score the most, or lose the least, on 
those hands. 

Thus, if you hold a poor hand, you do not 
play it against the good hand at your own table. 
Or rather, you do so play it; but you are trying 
to lose less on it than will your adversary (at 
the other table) when he comes to hold that same 
poor hand and to play it against that same good 
one. 

On each round, each person holds out in 
front of him the card he intends to play, clearly 
exposing its face. When the four cards have 
been so shown, they are laid (face down) in 
front of their respective owners; the two cards 
of the partners who have won the trick, are laid 
lengthwise to their owners; and the two cards 
of the partners who have lost the trick, are laid 
sidewise to their owners. 

The Player instructs Dummy which card to 
lift and hold, on each round. Dummy may 
never play a card until instructed by his partner, 
■ — the Player. For instance, North gets the 
bid and plays the hand; East leads — a king of 
spades, which he holds out and shows. Dummy 
(South) lays down his hand which contains 
two spades — the six and the three. North 
says to him " three of spades, " and Dummy lifts 
and shows the card, until the round is finished. 



Compass Auction 151 

He then lays it in front of him, reversed and 
crosswise (as it lost the trick), and this is 
repeated on every round. 

It is impossible to play for rubbers, because a 
difference of judgment as to bid (or double) 
on the first round might totally change the bid 
on the second. For instance, suppose you 
(being North) get the first declaration at "a 
heart, " and your adversary (the other North) 
declares u a no-trump" on the same hand when 
he plays it somewhat later. And suppose you 
each take three odd; then you have 24 and he 
has game. You would naturally be satisfied 
with a club declaration on the next hand, as it 
would put you game. He, on the contrary, 
would be beginning a new game and would want 
a higher suit, that he might go rubber in the 
hand. So it is quite impossible to play for the 
rubber; the gross score on a certain number of 
hands is the best that you can do. But the 
game gives no scope for the foolish bids that 
one used to see in progressive Bridge (that 
awful game!), when players declared on their 
honors alone, because it would pay them to 
lose the odd trick if they scored simple honors. 
In this game, where every lost trick is fifty 
honor-points to the adversary, the bidding is 
forced to be sane. 



152 Fine Points of Auction 

Every hand is bid exactly as it would be on a 
clean score in plain Auction; and, as the object 
in the latter is always to " go game in the hand," 
a reward is offered in Compass for accomplishing 
the same feat. Whenever a player makes 30 
or more points on a hand, he is given 100 honor- 
points. 

As nearly as possible, the element of luck is 
eliminated — at least, as far as the cards are 
concerned. But it can never be eliminated as 
to one's partner and adversaries. If you have 
adversaries who make foolish bids and doubles, 
you are in luck. And your score will run much 
higher than it would if you should play those 
same hands against a stronger defence. Nor 
do the results always testify in favor of sound 
judgment; a risky bidder may make thoroughly 
unsound bids which, through luck, will go 
through and show a higher score than that 
achieved by more conservative and sane bids. 
In the long run, of course, the sound bidder 
would win out; but luck might easily favor the 
plunger for two hours or more. 

Now, as to the score! If you are simply 
playing casually, you can use an ordinary score- 
card; and instead of "We" and "They," you 
can write " N. and S. " at the head of one column, 
and "E. and W. " at the head of the other. 
But this will give you no record of the bids. 



Compass -Auction 153 

To enjoy the game in its perfect form, you must 
keep a record of every bid made. Special score- 
pads are printed, and copyrighted, for this 
purpose. At present, they are not on the mar- 
ket, — but are privately printed for me. If the 
demand warrants it, they will be offered for 
sale in the shops; in the meantime, I can supply 
you with the printer's address, or you can make 
your own cards — which is rather a nuisance. 
This is how you should go about it : 

Get a small tablet of unlined paper and rule 
the sheets into eight vertical columns. The 
first four of these columns should be headed by 
the names of the points of the compass; the 
next two are the point-column and honor- 
column for North and South, and the last two 
are the point-column and honor-column for 
East and West. But in the sixteen sheets 
that will make a complete record for sixteen 
boards, there will be four in which North's name 
will head the first column (followed in proper 
order by the other compass-points) ; four in which 
South's name comes first; and, of course, four 
with East's name, and four with West's. That 
is because in sixteen hands each of the four 
players deals and opens the bidding four times. 
Just sit with your back to the North, and you 
will see what I mean. If you open the bidding, 
the player at your left will have his back to the 



154 



Fine Points of Auction 



East, and will be the second hand; South will 
come third, and West fourth. The board that is 
marked No. i will have the star at the North 
and the index to the East. That means that 
East will deal and open the bidding on the first 
board; and he will do likewise on the fifth board, 
the ninth board, and the thirteenth; South will 
deal on the second, the sixth, the tenth, and 
the fourteenth; and so on. 

Four of your leaves will thus read as follows : 
Table i; board I (or 5, or 9, or 13). 



— - - 

East 


South 


West 


North 


N. &S. 


E. &W. 


points 


honors 


points 


honors 



Four more will be like this : 

Table 1; board 2 (or 6, or 10, or 14). 















South 


West 


North 


East 


N. &S. 


E. &W. 


points 

i 


honors 


points 


honors 



Compass Auction 



155 



The next four will read thus : 

Table 1; board 3 (or 7, or 11, or 15). 



1 

West 


North 


East 


South 


N. &S. 


E. &W. 


points 


honors 


points 


honors 



And the remaining four thus : 



Table 1; board 4 (or 8, or 12, or 16). 



■■ 1 I 

1 

North 


East 


South 


West 


N. &S. 


E. &W. 


points 


honors 


points 


honors 



You will then make an exact duplicate of 
these sixteen sheets, only writing "table two' 
in place of " table one. " In stringing them 
together, the " table one" sheets should have 
" board one" on top, followed in regular order 
by boards two, three, four, etc. The " table 



156 



Fine Points of Auction 



two" sheets should be in the following order: 
nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fif- 
teen, sixteen, one, two, three, four, five, six, 
seven, eight. Because, while one table is play- 
ing the first eight hands, the other table will be 
playing the last eight, and vice versa. 

The scorer will record each bid by a figure and 
a small letter that is the initial of the suit that 
is bid; thus, "i h." means "one heart," "2 d." 
means " two diamonds," etc. A dash ( — ) means 
"pass" ; a capital D. means double, and a capital 
R. means "redouble." The second round of 
bids will be written immediately under the first 
round, and all following rounds accordingly; 
and the results for the hand in the columns for 
points and honors. Here is a sample (East 
deals) : 









Table 1 


; board 


I 






East 
1 h. 


South 


West 


North 
2 d. 


N. &S. 


E. &W. 


points 


honors 


points 


honors 


D. 


3d- 


2 h. 


— 








200 
















____w 



Compass Auction 157 

After the play of each hand, the cards are 
placed in the board. At the end of eight hands, 
the boards are exchanged; and at the end of 
sixteen hands, the tables are drawn together, 
the hands laid out (one at a time) , and the bids 
and results compared. 

The partners who make the highest percentage 
against their adversaries at the same table, and 
the other partners who lose the lowest percentage 
to their adversaries at the same table, are the 
winners. It is necessary to take the percentage 
rather than the gross score because sometimes 
the entire record runs higher at one table — ■ 
in accordance with the bidding. For instance 
the gross score at the first table on the first com- 
parison might be: North and South 1050, 
against East and West 750. And at the second 
table it might be: North and South 750, against 
East and West 300. Now the entire first table 
is higher; but North and South there are the 
losers, because their percentage against East 
and West is if, while the percentage of the other 
North and South is 2§. Therefore, North and 
South at the second table, and East and West 
at the first table, are the four winners. 

It is a more fascinating game than you can 
possibly imagine until you have tried it. It 
bears the same relation to plain Auction that a 



158 Fine Points of -Auction 

pipe organ does to a grand piano. The grand 
piano is perfect of its kind (as is Auction), and is 
all that one wants for every-day life and in the 
home. The pipe organ (like Compass Auction) 
has a wider range and special properties, and 
is delightful on big occasions. 

Team Auction is played in precisely the same 
way, by rival teams. North and South of team 
one play against East and West of team two, at 
their own table; and also against North and 
South of team two, at the other table. 

Tournament Auction is conducted on the same 
principle, all the tables in the room being ar- 
ranged in pairs of two rival tables. After the 
first comparison of results (at the end of any 
desired number of hands), the four losers at 
each two tables drop out. Thus eight tables 
resolve themselves into four, four into two, and 
two into one. And the four players at that last 
table are the winners of the tournament. 

It is much less complicated than it sounds, and 
is entirely practicable. I have tried it and 
know. During the past winter, I planned and 
conducted a small Auction tournament which I 
believe to be the first on record. It ran as 
though on greased wheels and nothing else was 
discussed for days afterward. The hands were 
left in the boards, the records of bids were 



Tournament Auction 15Q 

filed, and any one who wished might look over 
both. 

In arranging a big tournament, as at a Country- 
Club, the necessary number of decks of cards 
would be so great that you would be forced to 
ask each eight persons to provide one set of 
duplicate boards and twelve decks of cards. 
And each four players that dropped out should 
carry with them eight boards and eight decks. 
In this way confusion would be avoided. 



The Laws of Auction Bridge 

The dealer is forced to bid. Any one else may 
pass, but he may not. 

Following the opening bid by the dealer, any 
one is free to pass, to cover the previous bid, 
or to double. 

Doubling is not bidding, but it keeps the 
bidding open. That is, after a double the bid- 
ding is open to any player to bid again in the 
same or any other suit. 

If a bid has been doubled, it counts twice as 
much as far as scoring is concerned, but remains 
at its normal value as regards subsequent bids. 
A bid of "two diamonds," doubled, means 28 
for scoring, but only 14 as far as bidding is con- 
cerned, and may be covered by " two hearts, ' ' 
or any bid that exceeds 14. You raise the bid, 
not the double. 

Doubling can take place between adversaries 

only; no one may double his partner. And it 

stops at one double and one redouble; no one 

may double further than that. 

160 



'THe Laws of Auction Bridge 161 

" Raising the bid" is making a bid whose 
numerical value exceeds the previous bid, or 
bringing it to the same numerical value but 
with more tricks in it. Thus " three hearts " are 
24 and "four clubs" are 24, but the club-bid 
is higher because there are more tricks in it. 
On the other hand, "four clubs" (24) would 
not be as high as "three royals" (27), because, 
though there are more tricks in it, the total value 
is lower. 

The bid is open until three successive players 
have passed. 

When the bidding is closed, the hand is played 
by the person who has made the highest bid, 
unless the suit which stands as final was first 
named by his partner. Between two partners, 
the one who first named the final suit plays the 
hand; between two adversaries, the one who 
last named the final suit plays the hand. 

The leader is the person who sits on the 
player's left. Should the wrong adversary lead, 
the player may demand that he take back his 
card and may call a suit from the proper leader. 

Should any one bid or double out of turn, 
either adversary may call for a new deal. 

The deal passes around the table regularly, 
from each player to the adversary on his left., 
irrespective of the play. 



11 



1 62 Fine Points of .Auction 

The " still pack " should be made by the part- 
ner of the dealer, and placed at his own right 
hand. The player finding it at his own left 
hand is the next dealer. He must pick up the 
pack, have it cut on his right, and proceed to 
deal to his left. 

The loss at a "one spade' ' bid is limited to ioo. 

If a player underbids his hand, he may score 
everything over his bid that he takes. If he 
overbids his hand, he may score nothing; the 
adversaries score 50 above the line for every 
trick that he bid and failed to take. 

The adversaries can never score below the 
line. They score above the line, fifty for every 
trick that the player has bid and failed to take — 
regardless of suit. 

No one can score below the line except the 
player; and he only if he takes all that he bid, 
or more. 

The game is 30 points below the line. 

The rubber- value is 250 points above the line. 

Either side may score the honors they hold. 

If a bid has been doubled and is defeated, the 
adversaries score 100 above the line for every 
trick for which the player has contracted and 
failed to take; if the bid has been redoubled, 
they score 200 above the line for each similar 
trick. 



TKe Laws of Auction Bridge 163 

If a player succeeds in keeping his contract in 
spite of a double he gets his tricks at a doubled 
value, and a bonus of 50 points (above the 
line) for keeping his contract; and if he takes 
any tricks over his contract, they are worth 
their doubled value below the line, and 50 
apiece above. If there has been redoubling, 
all tricks are raised to four times their normal 
value, the bonus to 100, and each extra trick to 
100. 

If the player revoke, the adversaries take 150 
above the line. If either adversary revoke, the 
player may take either 150 points above the 
line, or the value of three tricks below the line. 
The side that revokes can score nothing on the 
hand, except what honors they may chance to 
hold. A revoke should not be claimed until 
the hand is finished. A slam can never be 
scored on the revoke penalty. 

A touched card in Dummy may be called by 
either adversary; unless, immediately before 
touching it, the player has said "I arrange." 

An exposed card may be called by either 
adversary (except Dummy) who can name its 
face. No one, however, can be forced to revoke 
with an exposed card. 

If the player throw down his remaining cards 
claiming the balance of the tricks, and if there 



164 Fine Points of Auction 

be doubt as to his taking them, he can be forced 
to pick up his cards and play out the hand, but 
none of the cards so exposed may be called by the 
adversary, as the player has no partner who can 
be advantaged by their exposure. If either 
adversary, however, thus expose his cards and 
claim the balance of the tricks, the player may 
force him to pick up his hand, and may call any 
of the exposed cards that he can name. 

If any player make a bid insufficient to cover 
the preceding bid, and if the error be discovered 
before the next player has passed, doubled, or 
bid, the faulty bidder is forced to bid (in the 
suit he has named) enough to cover the previous 
bid: and, further, if the following adversary 
should pass, the partner of the faulty bidder is 
debarred from bidding. If, however, the adver- 
sary should bid or double, the partner of the 
faulty bidder is free to make any bid or double 
that he may wish. 

Attention to a faulty bid may be called by 
either adversary. 

If a faulty bid be not discovered until after the 
following adversary has passed, doubled, or bid, 
it stands as good. 

The final bid may be asked at any point of the 
game; but no player may ask information con- 
cerning any previous bid. 



The Revoke 

The penalty for a revoke, in Auction, is very 
severe. Should the player revoke, the adver- 
saries take 150 points above the line (for they 
are unable, of course, to score below when they 
have not the bid). Should either adversary 
revoke, the player may take 150 points above, 
or the value of three tricks below. (If he is 
playing a club hand, then three tricks below 
would be but 18 points and he would naturally 
choose the 150, unless he is already 12 on the 
game and the 18 points would put him game or 
rubber.) But (and this is where the severity of 
the punishment is shown) the revoking party can 
score nothing on the hand except the honors he 
may chance to hold. Suppose he has bid "two 
no-trump " and takes five odd, but revokes; after 
paying three tricks he would still be able to keep 
his contract. This, however is denied him. He 
can score nothing but honors. 

There is a story told of one of the great players 

165 



1 66 Fine Points of Auction 

who revoked purposely, in plain Bridge, because 
he saw it would still benefit him after paying 
the penalty. No such situation could arise in 
Auction — the revoke penalty is too extreme for 
tha& 



Other Penalties 

If the wrong adversary should lead, the player 
may call a suit. Suppose the bid has gone 
round several times and you finally secure the 
make, every one else having passed after your 
last bid. No matter who dealt, if you are to 
play the hand, the adversary on your left should 
lead. There must be no conversation as to 
whose lead it is, the adversaries should know. 
And if the wrong one (the one on your right) 
should make a lead, you can immediately ask 
him to take back his card and can call a suit 
from the proper leader, — forcing him to lead up 
to your ten-ace suits, your strength, your trumps, 
or whatever you may prefer. This gives you 
a tremendous advantage, and after the penalty 
has been exacted a few times, players are much 
more careful about leading out of turn. 

Should any one bid or double out of turn, 
either adversary may call for a new deal. 

Other penalties are the same as in plain Bridge. 
An exposed card may always be called by any 

167 



1 68 Fine Points of Auction 

one (other than Dummy) who can call it by 
name (except to force its holder to revoke with 
it) ; and a touched card in Dummy should always 
be a played card. 



Ji Selection from the 
Catalogue of 

G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 



Complete Catalogue sent 
on application 



"Not only the best writer on Auction, 

but the best exponent of any card game I 
know of." — Jin Old Card Player. 

The Development of 
Auction Bridge 

Under the New Count 
By Florence Irwin 

Author of " The Fine Points of Auction Bridge " 

Includes the Latest " Rules of Auction" 

Adopted by the N. Y. Whist Club 

September, 1912 

16°. $125 net By mail, $135 

"Miss Irwin is quite the best com- 
bination of author and instructor, man 
or woman, we have read on the subject. 
She has that rare gift of catching the 
high lights of her subject and of not 
allowing them to be obscured by any- 
thing. ' f — Wholesalers and Retailers Review, 

G. P. Putnam's Sons 

New York London 



The Development of 
Auction Bridge 

Under the New Count 

By Florence Irwin 

To an analytical mind, the changes 
wrought in Auction by the New Count 
are very marked and very fundamental. 
The entire basic principle of sane bid- 
ding and sane doubling has been 
altered; methods which were formerly 
sound are now both unsound and futile. 

In her new volume, Florence Irwin 
dissects these changes without forcing 
her readers to wade again through pages 
of description of the game itself. Por- 
tions of the present volume have ap- 
peared in the New York Times, and the 
test hands especially all awakened 
lively interest on their first appearance. 

G. P. Putnam's Sons 

New York London 



" Not only the best writer on auction, 

but the best exponent of any card game I know 
of."— An Old Card Player, 



The Fine Points of 
Auction Bridge 

By Florence Irwin 

Author of " The Development of Auction Bridge." 
Revised Edition, 16°, $1,25 net, By mail, $1,35 

"It Earns Dividends" 

11 Your system certainly pays dividends," writes 
a firm believer in the system of bidding which Miss 
Irwin recommends. " For some months now I 
have won consistently. That of itself means nothing. 
But I have won with hands which have not averaged 
a bit better than those of my adversaries, and that 
Qoes mean something. For instance, the other day 
I played six rubbers, of which I lost four and yet, 
without any advantage in partners, I was on the long 
side of the score on every rubber but one, and on 
that I lost only forty points. That of course, was 
unusual, but it illustrates what can be done by 
letting the other fellow beat himself." 

G. P. Putnam's Sons 

New York London 



MAR 18 1913 



